US Embassy in Afghanistan suspends all visa operations due to surge in COVID-19 cases

Kabul [Afghanistan], June 12 (ANI/Sputnik): The US diplomatic mission in Afghanistan will suspend visa operations at the embassy's consular section starting from Sunday as the third wave of the COVID-19 is intensifying across the country.
"In response to the current outbreak, effective June 13 the Embassy's Consular Section is suspending all visa operations," the embassy said in a statement.
It added that those who have scheduled appointments will be able to reschedule as soon as visa operations resume.
"We acknowledge and regret the inconvenience to applicants as we seek to protect the health of our staff and applicants to ensure we can fully support visa and other consular services going forward," the diplomatic mission said.
The US government, however, will continue to support efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Afghanistan and globally, according to the embassy.
"In the past year, USAID has provided more than USD 39 million to directly help Afghanistan respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, expedited USD 90 million in other COVID-related development assistance through the World Bank, and reoriented other U.S. assistance to support Afghan efforts to deal with the pandemic's consequences," the statement read.
Afghanistan has so far recorded more than 87,000 COVID-19 cases, over 60,500 recoveries and 3,412 related deaths. (ANI/Sputnik)