53 peacekeeper from Afghanistan infected with COVID-19
3 additional flights to evacuate 690 citizens
On July 18, 25 Mongolian peacekeepers that arrived from Afghanistan on July 12 tested positive for the coronavirus. Earlier, 28 peacekeepers were diagnosed with the coronavirus. As a result, 53 of the 113 peacekeepers that returned from Afghanistan were diagnosed with the coronavirus.
During the regular briefing of the Health Ministry on July 16, Head of the National Center for Infectious Disease D.Nyamkhuu made updates on COVID-19 infection in the country.
“On July 18, 113 suspected cases, including 31 peacekeepers who came from Afghanistan, 38 drivers who came through Altanbulag border checkpoint, 13 in the NCID and 31 people who are isolated in Zamiin-Uud, Dornogovi Province, were tested in three laboratories and they all came out negative for the coronavirus.”
“The good news is that two more people have recovered and left the NCID. For instance, a 26-yearold man with coronavirus infection was treated for 26 days and a 24-year-old woman for 20 days. Therefore, 213 out of the 287 confirmed cases of the coronavirus registered in Mongolia have been cured and discharged from hospital.”
“Currently, 74 people are being treated for the coronavirus at the NCID. Of these, 62 people are in mild condition, while 12 are in critical condition. There is a pregnant woman in treatment.”
Evacuation of Mongolian citizens from abroad is underway. On July 17, Head of the State Emergency Commission Ya.Sodbaatar reported that three additional evacuation charter flights will be conducted this month.
“As of today, seven flights have been operated this month and 1,927 citizens have been repatriated. Additional flights are scheduled on July 20, 21 and 27. The three new flights are scheduled to fly out to Seoul twice and to Australia to bring back 690 people. We are evacuating people based on domestic conditions, the availability of isolation facilities, and the availability of health workers. Some 10,513 citizens have applied to the State Emergency Commission to return to their homeland. In the future, we will continue to look at our domestic resources in stages and evacuate them based on the urgency of their reasons. About 934 to 1,400 people were evacuated in February, March and April, 2,300 in May, 2,433 in June and 1,400 after three flights in July,” he noted.
As a result, a total of 3,500 people will be evacuated by 15 special mission flights this month. It is also planned to increase special missions in August. This will be based on the resources of isolation facilities.
About 13,000 Mongolian have officially applied to return to their homeland. Of these, 1,800 are families with young children, 740 are at risk of disease, 797 are elderly, more than 240 are pregnant, 1,553 are students, and 131 are those who overstayed visa due to the pandemic, 13 are children, and more than 4,300 are citizens with other reasons.
People who came from abroad are being isolated for 21 days, but there are criticisms that the period should be shortened to 14 days. Despite lack of isolation facilities, the Emergency Headquarters of the State Emergency Commission decided not to reduce the mandatory isolation period as per international medical recommendations.
The Ministry of Health said that the best solution was to increase the 14-day isolation period to 21, as three repeated testing detected coronavirus infection 14 days after arrival of evacuees.