Blast kills dozens near school in Afghan capital Kabul

 At least 150 people, many of them young women, were injured in the attack in a Shia neighbourhood of the city.

The death toll from an explosion near a school in a Shia district of west Kabul has risen to 58, Afghan officials said on Sunday, with doctors struggling to provide medical care to at least 150 people who were injured.

The bombing on Saturday evening shook the city’s neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi. The community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, has been targeted in the past by Islamic State.

An eyewitness told Reuters news agency all but seven or eight of the victims were schoolgirls going home after finishing their studies.

Bodies were still being collected from morgues as the first burials were conducted in the west of the city. Some families were still searching for missing relatives on Sunday, gathering outside hospitals to read names posted on the walls, and checking morgues.

Kabul has been on alert since Washington announced plans last month to pull out all US troops by September 11, with Afghan officials saying the Taliban has stepped up its attacks across the country.

No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning the attack, blaming the Taliban even as the group denied it. He offered no proof.

“The Taliban, by escalating their illegitimate war and violence, have once again shown that they are not only reluctant to resolve the current crisis peacefully and fundamentally, but by complicating the situation,” Ghani said.

The Taliban condemned the attack, apparently aimed at civilians, and denied any responsibility.

It took place in a neighbourhood that has frequently been attacked by ISIL (ISIS) fighters over the years.

Al Jazeera’s Filio Kontrafouri, reporting from Kabul, said the attack happened about 5:30pm Kabul time (13:00 GMT).

“This is the time when students were finishing their classes, and were heading home, and we are talking about hundreds of students attending schools at that time,” she said.

She said witnesses reported three explosions that happened back to back, and “they were talking about girls who were panicking, who started running around, crying, calling for their mothers as others were trying to transfer as many as they could to hospital”.

“The entire city is numb after this attack.”

The school is a joint high school for girls and boys, who study in three shifts, the second of which is for female students, Najiba Arian, spokeswoman for the education ministry, told Reuters.

‘Despicable act of terrorism’

The European Union mission in Afghanistan condemned what it said was an “horrendous attack”.

“[This] … is a despicable act of terrorism,” the mission said on Twitter.

“Targeting primarily students in a girls’ school makes this an attack on the future of Afghanistan. On young people determined to improve their country.”

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed its “deep revulsion” at the blast.

In May last year, a group of gunmen attacked a hospital in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood in a brazen daylight raid that left 25 people killed, including 16 mothers of newborn babies.

The hospital was supported by Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF), the international medical charity, which later pulled out of the project.

No group claimed that attack, but President Ghani blamed the Taliban and ISIL.

On October 24, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a tuition centre in the same district, killing 18 people including students in an attack that also went unclaimed.

Saturday’s attack comes days after the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 American troops officially began leaving the country.

They will be gone by September 11 at the latest. The pullout comes amid a resurgent Taliban, which controls or holds sway over half of Afghanistan.

Under an agreement signed by the Taliban and the US last year, Washington was to pull out troops in exchange for Taliban security guarantees and for the group to start peace talks with the Afghan government. Talks began last year but have since stalled.

Taliban attacks on foreign forces have largely ceased, but they continue to target government forces. A number of journalists, activists and academics have also been killed in attacks blamed on the Taliban, which denies involvement.

The top US military officer said on Sunday that Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and potentially some “bad possible outcomes” against Taliban fighters as the withdrawal accelerates in the coming weeks.

India records more than 4,000 COVID-19 deaths in a day

India recorded more than 4,000 coronavirus deaths in a day for the first time as more states imposed lockdowns in a desperate bid to halt the devastating new COVID-19 surge.

The 4,187 new deaths took India’s overall toll to 238,270 since the pandemic started. It added another 401,078 new cases in 24 hours taking its caseload to nearly 21.9 million – second only to the United States.

Health experts, who have expressed doubts about the official death toll, say the new wave may not hit a peak until the end of May, and there have been mounting calls for tough nationwide measures.

Morgues and crematoriums have struggled to handle the number of dead, and makeshift funeral pyres burn in parks and car parks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been criticised for his handling of an acute oxygen shortage, though the government says it is doing all it can.

Tamil Nadu state Chief Minister MK Stalin said in a letter to Modi late on Friday that Tamil Nadu’s medical oxygen demand could double in the next two weeks.

“The availability of oxygen in Tamil Nadu is very, very critical,” Stalin said, adding 13 patients died in a hospital on the outskirts of Chennai because of the lack of oxygen.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress Party, called on Modi to order a national lockdown or the spread could be “devastating” for India and other countries.

The government, stung by criticism of its handling of the crisis, has largely left individual state administrations to handle pandemic clampdowns.

While major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai have been boosted by extra supplies of oxygen – much of it from abroad – and new hospital beds opened up, the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala all ordered lockdowns to counter an explosion in COVID cases.

Lockdown in Bengaluru

Karnataka ordered a statewide two-week lockdown from Monday in a bid to halt the spread of the virus. The state added more than 48,000 cases in a day with Bengaluru, home to many Indian and global information technology giants, bearing the brunt.

One doctor in Bangalore said he has had to reject patients “left, right and centre” as his hospital struggled to find more oxygen.

“The problem is the demand is so high that we need constant oxygen,” said Dr Sanjay Gururaj, medical director at Shanti Hospital and Research Center.

The hospital is sending a truck twice a day to oxygen plants on the outskirts of the city to bring back 12 jumbo oxygen cylinders.

“In normal times, this would have lasted over two weeks – now, it lasts just over a day,” he added.

The city of nine million people, which saw 1,907 coronavirus deaths in April, has recorded more than 950 in just the first seven days of May.

A lack of oxygen and critical care beds is being blamed for the dramatic rise in the death rate.

‘Magnitude of cases’

Neighbouring Kerala, which is adding about 40,000 cases a day, started a nine-day lockdown from Saturday. Tamil Nadu, which includes the major city of Chennai, will start a 10-day lockdown from Monday.

With daily cases crossing 40,000, the state is aggressively boosting resources, including converting hundreds of industrial oxygen cylinders into medical oxygen, said Dr Amar Fetle, the state’s officer for COVID-19.

“The magnitude of cases from last year to now is vastly different,” he said, adding increasing numbers have meant more hospitalisations and more strain on healthcare systems with hospitals running nearly full.

Coronavirus cases and deaths have also shot up in West Bengal state since last week’s election, which was marked by huge rallies organised by Modi and his archrival, state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The main city, Kolkata, also has a critical shortage of oxygen and beds.

The Hindu nationalist government imposed a three-month nationwide lockdown last year that helped halt the spread of the first major wave, but also caused huge economic damage.

There are fears the new surge could undermine the recovery in Asia’s third-largest economy. The growing death toll has added to pressure for the government to act, however.

Opposition leader Gandhi said in his letter to the prime minister “your government’s lack of a clear and coherent COVID and vaccination strategy … has placed India in a highly dangerous position.”

Modi had “to understand India’s responsibility in a globalised and interconnected world” as “home to one out of every six human beings on the planet”.

“Allowing the uncontrollable spread of this virus in our country will be devastating, not only for our people, but for the rest of the world.”

The government did not immediately respond.

As Supply Exceeds Demand, Texas Changes How It Distributes COVID-19 Vaccines

 

As supply of COVID-19 vaccines continues to exceed demand, Texas is shifting how it distributes doses to providers.

So far, the Texas Department of State Health Services has been allocating a certain number of vaccines to providers on a weekly basis. Now, providers can place vaccine orders as needed, and the department will fill them as they come in.

“This is a big step in vaccine distribution,” Imelda Garcia, DSHS associate commissioner for laboratory and infectious disease services, said in a press release. “The ability to ship vaccine to pharmacies, doctors’ offices, and other providers as they need it will go a long way to making sure it is available when and where Texans want to be vaccinated.”

As demand has dwindled, many providers in the state have started offering vaccines without people having to sign up for an appointment or get on a waitlist. About 37% of eligible Texans are fully vaccinated, and more than half of eligible Texans have gotten at least one dose.

To get more people vaccinated, DSHS says convenience is key. The department says it’s working with providers and community organizations to make vaccination “as easy as possible.”

Now that there’s so much supply, DSHS says, providers no longer need to use every dose in the week that they get it, but they should store it properly so it stays effective as long as possible.

“DSHS is also encouraging providers to vaccinate anyone who wants to be vaccinated, even if that means opening a new vial for that person without knowing whether all doses will be used,” the press release said.