The Afghan Government has set free 75 inmates from prisons in the northern Baghlan and southern Zabul province as part of efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the jails, officials said on Wednesday.
According to Mohammad Aslam Kohistani, the prison director in the northern Baghlan province, 54 detainees who were imprisoned on various crimes, were set free on Tuesday after consideration of their ages and health conditions.
A total of 21 more detainees were freed from the prison in the southern Zabul province, Provincial Police spokesman, Mohammad Lal Amiri, said on Wednesday.
The government has decided to release more than 1,200 prisoners to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country’s prisons, officials have said.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Afghanistan in mid-February, 1,939 positive cases have been confirmed.
Out of these, 61 have died and 256 have recovered, Wahidullah Mayar, the spokesman for the Public Health Ministry said.
