Herat man dies of asthma not corona, finds Pajhwok

KABUL (Pajhwok): The death of a person from coronavirus in western Herat province has turned out to be baseless and incorrect, Pajhwok Afghan News learned on Saturday.

Covid-19 for the first time surfaced in China three months earlier and spread to 160 countries during the period.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) that declared Covid-19 a global pandemic over 11,000 people have been killed and around 277,000 others suffered from the virus around the globe.

In Afghanistan, the virus has so far infected 24 people in seven provinces of Afghanistan and one person has recovered and discharged from hospital, announced the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) two days back.

The MoPH, however, said 12 more cases were being examined, but social media users on Friday claimed that one patient of Coivd-19 died in Herat province.

Wrong Information:

A number of Facebook users disseminated information regarding the death of a Covid-19 patient in Herat province.

Dr. Saleem Atif, a social media user in his Facebook page wrote: “Passing away of a Covid-19 patient in Herat. One suspected Covid-19 patient with all symptoms refused to be hospitalized despite dispatching ambulance to the gate of his home. He died today and buried. His family due to the fear of corona refused to send him to the hospital.”

Tens of other Facebook users reported the death of a corona patient in Herat, quoting one user Waheed Paiman.

But WaheedPaiman, who was quoted by many social media users in this issue, in his message said: “I never said an individual infected with Covid-19 has passed away. Please read the following post completely because until the medical lab does not confirm Covid-19, no one can claim that someone is infected.”

“He was suspected to have coronavirus and even the doctor claimed that 90 percent of the signs of this patient were similar to coronavirus.”

He said the purpose of his post was to tell people not be reluctant to visit hospitals and should not consider coronavirus something simple.

“Ninety-eight percent patients have recovered by timely approach to hospitals. That patent had asthma for years and lost his life.”

Correct information:

Dr. Ahmad Amir Nazhand, monitory and accountability head of diseases in the west zone, said according to their investigation, the man died due to asthma.

The deceased had not travelled to Iran or any other place. He was jobless and stayed at home.

He asked media and some doctors to avoid spreading baseless information among people.

Khalil Ahmad, son of the deceased man, said: “It is not good that some media outlets reported the propaganda. We were disturbed hearing this propaganda.”

He said his father was patient of asthma and died of heart attack after high blood pressure.

He said a team of doctors from Herat Zonal Hospital visited their home and completed their investigation that showed his father did not die of coronavirus.

Benafsha, the daughter of the man and a journalism faculty graduate, said that media should not be allowed to play with people’s honor.

Dr. Amir Nashand said: “I was part of the investigation team of doctors that probed Fazal Ahmad death. There were no suspected signs of coronavirus on him and our investigation shows he died of asthma.”

Dr. Waheed Mayar, spokesperson for MoPH, said no individual had so far died of Covid-19.

Fact Check:

Pajhwok Afghan News as part of its new program, monitors propaganda regarding Covid-19 to show the people whether a story falls under correct, half correct, somehow correct, wrong or somehow wrong categories.

This report shows that the news regarding the death of a man in Herat due to Covid-19 is incorrect and baseless.

Khuwaja Basir Fitri / Fitri / Azizi

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