The Ministry of Public Health on Thursday reported 1,822 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 5,343 samples tested in the last 24 hours.   

The ministry also reported 56 deaths and 409 recoveries from COVID-19 in the same period.   

The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 87,716, the total number of reported deaths is 3,412.   

Officials have said that the peak may occur over the next several weeks. 

On Thursday, 700,000 doses of vaccine from China arrived in Kabul. The vaccine was pledged by the Chinese government and was officially handed over to the Afghan government.  

The Afghan Health Ministry said that with the arrival of the Chinese shipment, the vaccination process will start in the near future. 

“We will start the vaccination program on Saturday and plan to provide these vaccines to people over 50, government employees, and employees of private sector companies who do not have the capacity social distance, said Dastagir Nazari, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health. 

Nine countries reported an increase in cases last week, compared to the previous week, including Somalia, the Sudan and Afghanistan, according to the WHO.11 countries reported an increase in deaths, with the highest increases reported from Sudan, Afghanistan, and Morocco, the WHO said. 

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of deaths from COVID-19 globally is more than 3,759,509 and the number of known global coronavirus cases is 174,484,813.