SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase Chain Reaction Positivity Rates Among Evacuees From Afghanistan After Withdrawal of the Coalition Forces

<p dir="ltr">Afghanistan has been a major armed conflict zone for over 2 decades. Consequently, the response to multiple infectious disease threats, including the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, has been poor because of a lack of resources and inadequate infrastructure.<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792540#zld220099r1" target="_blank">1</a>,<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792540#zld220099r2" target="_blank">2</a> In August 2021, the Western coalition forces completely withdrew from Afghanistan, which further exacerbated the shortage of critical medicines and supplies.<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792540#zld220099r3" target="_blank">3</a> Qatar was the first stop for a large proportion of evacuees en route to their final destination. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the rate of active SARS-CoV-2 infection among evacuees arriving in Qatar from Afghanistan.</p><h2>Other Information</h2><p dir="ltr">Published in: JAMA Network Open<br>License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.13467" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.13467</a></p>