Kabul, January 23: As Afghanistan undergoes political turmoil, another tragedy has stuck the landlocked country. At least 21 people have died due to a "mysterious disease" in northeastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday. The respiratory disease has spread in the Wakhan area of the mountainous Pamir region. The medical and disaster management teams are working to determine the exact nature of the illness, the local authorities in Badakhshan province said.

All the cases that have been reported so far are from the mountainous Wakhan district in the northeast of Afghanistan. So far, limited information and details about the disease are available. Meanwhile, several officials have described it as being 'very similar' to COVID-19, the Afghanistan Times reported. Norovirus Detected in 19 Students in Kerala, Know All About Highly-Contagious Virus, Its Symptoms and Causes.

According to the reports, the first death due to a "mysterious illness" occurred weeks ago. Concerns have grown despite Wakhan being sparsely populated since the identity of the illness is still unknown. Health experts are anxious that the disease might be spreading. Earthquake in Afghanistan: Quake of Magnitude 4.2 Hits Fayzabad.

Afghanistan has recently been hit by outbreaks of Cholera and Polio. The Kyrgyzstan foreign ministry also announced earlier this month that a representative of the Kyrgyz Embassy in Kabul had been dispatched to the region.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 23, 2023 09:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).