Kabul [Afghanistan], May 29 (ANI): Schools and Universities in 16 provinces including Afghanistan's capital Kabul will remain closed for two weeks as the country's COVID-19 cases surge, TOLOnews reported.
977 New Cases of COVID-19, 18 Deaths Reported in Afghanistan
The Ministry of Public Health on Friday reported 977 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 3,800 samples tested in the last 24 hours.
The ministry also reported 18 deaths and 157 recoveries from COVID-19 in the same period.
The new cases were reported in Kabul (350), Herat (7), Kandahar (63), Balkh (99), Nangarhar (30), Takhar (41), Baghlan (20), Kunduz (56), Nimroz (6), Faryab (8), Parwan (69), Logar 50), Ghazni (27), Laghman (25), Panjshir (20), Zabul (2), Uruzgan (13), Khost (3) and Nuristan (10) provinces.
Deaths were reported in Kabul (10), Kandahar (5), Balkh (1), Kunduz (1) and Logar (1) provinces.
The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 70,107, the total number of reported deaths is 2,899, and the total number of recoveries is 57,119.
623 New Cases of COVID-19, 14 Deaths Reported in Afghanistan tolonews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tolonews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Experts: Indian COVID-19 Variant Circulating in Afghanistan
Health experts on Thursday said that the Indian COVID-19 variant is currently circulating across Afghanistan, and called on the public to abide by the health guidelines and respect social distancing to avoid the further spread of the deadly disease.
This comes as Afghanistan recorded another 700 new positive cases of COVID-19 and 19 new deaths in the past 24 hours.
Currently, only one specialized COVID-19 hospital is operating in Kabul, a city with an estimated 6 million people.
According to the health experts, currently, there are about 48 COVID-19 variants circulating across the world.
“The Indian COVID-19 variant is increasing,” said a doctor in Kabul, Ilyas Mashal.