The Ministry of Public Health on Saturday announced that schools and universities in 16 provinces, including Kabul and Kandahar, will remain closed for two weeks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The ministry said that government and private schools, universities and training centers will remain closed in Kabul, Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Logar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Parwan, Maidan Wardak, Panjshir, Balkh, Laghman, Badakhshan, Kapisa, Kunduz and Nimroz.

According to the ministry, the highest daily reported cases during the first wave of COVID-19 last year in the country was 915 cases a day, but 977 new cases of COVID-19 were reported on Friday.

The Ministry of Public Health said that social distancing, the use of masks, and other health advice must be observed by the people to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Ministry of Public Health on Friday reported 977 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 3,800 samples tested in the last 24 hours.

The ministry also reported 18 deaths and 157 recoveries from COVID-19 in the same period.

The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 70,107, the total number of reported deaths is 2,899, and the total number of recoveries is 57,119.

So far, 462,860 samples have been tested in government centers and there are 10,089 known active COVID-19 cases in the country, data by the ministry indicates.