COVID-19 positive cases rise to 196 in Afghanistan

A total of 22 more positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Afghanistan, bringing the number of the patients affected with the virus in the country to 196 including four service members of the foreign forces, Public Health Ministry's spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said Wednesday.

Out of the newly detected positive cases, according to the official, 12 including two women are in Herat and the remaining have been confirmed in other parts of the country.

Four COVID-19 affected patients have died in Afghanistan since the outbreak of the disease in February, three of them in Herat, the epicenter of the disease in the country, Mayar said.

To contain the spread of the disease, the government has put in quarantine the national capital Kabul city, the western Herat, Farah and the neighboring Nimroz along the border with Iran.

Majority of the patients affected with COVID-19 have returned from Iran, the official said.