The Afghan government has extended the ongoing coronavirus lockdown in capital Kabul for three more weeks until May 9, vowing more restrictions on movement in the city, which has an estimated population of six million.
The lockdown also applies to provincial districts, TOLO News reported citing the governmnt as saying on Thursday.
Meanwhile, roads that connect Kabul with other provinces will also remain closed.
The announcement was made by the Ministry of Interior Affairs, calling on the citizens to take the lockdown measures seriously.
According to the Presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi, the government employees, except essential service employees, will be off for three more weeks.
The outbreak comes as Afghan health facilities were faced with a lack of testing kits, personal protection equipment, trained personnel and funds to conduct an adequate number of tests to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
So far, 840 cases have been reported in total, 30 people have died of the virus, and 54 have recovered.
The European Union has extended technical and financial support to the fight against the coronavirus in the country.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world topped 2 million Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, with more than 143,000 confirmed deaths as of Thursday night.
China revised its official count of deaths from the coronavirus, adding some 1,290 fatalities in Wuhan, the city where the virus first emerged last December.