The Ministry of Public Health on Thursday reported 1,509 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 4,392 samples tested in the last 24 hours.    

The ministry also reported 34 deaths and 107 recoveries from COVID-19 in the same period.    

Waheed Majroh, the acting minister of public health, speaking at a press conference in Kabul on Thursday said: “We will face a disaster soon if people don't pay attention to the health advice of the Ministry of Public Health. Creating health centers and increasing beds is not the solution” to fight COVID-19. 

“We are faced with a lack of oxygen,” Majroh said. “We are trying to control the situation and supply oxygen (to hospitals) in Kabul and Mazar.” 

“People must wear masks. People should stay at home for two weeks, especially those who don’t need to go out for urgent work,” he added. 

The new cases were reported in Kabul (557), Kandahar (69), Herat (28), Balkh (172), Nangarhar (82), Takhar (154), Kunduz (123), Faryab (30), Paktia (21), Maidan Wardak (55), Badakhshan (36), Kapisa (43), Laghman (6), Bamiyan (7), Ghazni (34), Zabul (14), Ghor (4), Uruzgan (3), Farah (18), Khost (2), Paktika (17) and Nuristan (2) provinces.   

Deaths were reported in Kabul (12), Herat (1), Balkh (6), Kandahar (2), Nangarhar (1), Takhar (1), Kunduz (2), Baghlan (1), Paktia (1), Maidan Wardak (1), Badakhshan (1), Laghman (1), Logar (2) and Khost (2) provinces.   

The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 76,653, the total number of reported deaths is 3,068, and the total number of recoveries is 58,070.    

So far, 485,013 samples have been tested in government centers and there are 15,414 known active COVID-19 cases in the country, data by the ministry indicates.    

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of deaths from COVID-19 globally is more than 3,692,586 and the number of known global coronavirus cases is 171,711,450.