The Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday reported 256 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 2,405 samples tested in the last 24 hours. 

The Public Health Ministry also reported 16 deaths and 148 recoveries from COVID-19 in the same period.    

On Wednesday, Mohammad Qasim Halemi, minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs, said that prayer ceremonies have been banned at the mosques in order to prevent the coronavirus and “it will be in effect until further notice of the Ministry of Public Health."

He also said: “Those who are going for prayer at the mosque must respect social distance and other health guidance.” 

The new cases were reported in Kabul (71), Herat (46), Kandahar (15), Balkh (10), Nangarhar (5), Baghlan (12), Kunduz (2), Parwan (14), Nimruz (10), Badakhshan (4), Helmand (9), Laghman (8), Kunar (7), Khost (10), Uruzgan (3), Faryab (2), Nuristan (1) and Jawzjan (1) provinces.   

The deaths were reported in Kabul (3), Balkh (3), Nangarhar (2), Takhar (1), Paktia (1), Baghlan (1), Parwan (1), Wardak (1), Helmand (2) and Khost (1) provinces, according to data provided by the Ministry of Public Health.    

The data by the ministry shows that the cumulative number of total cases is now 49,970, the number of total reported deaths is 2,017, and the total number of recoveries is 38,648.    

So far, 174,711 samples have been tested in government centers and there are 8,675 known active COVID-19 cases in the country, data by the ministry indicates.    

The number of deaths from COVID-19 globally is more than 1,638,339 and the number of known global coronavirus cases is 73,603,541, according to Johns Hopkins University.