The Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz in a press conference on Tuesday cited estimates saying that half of the country’s population may become infected with COVID-19.

Feroz said that based on these predictions, more than one hundred thousand Afghan citizens are likely to die of the virus.

But Feroz says if the necessary measures are taken, the risk of getting the virus will be reduced.

The Ministry of Public Health has reported that one person has died in the country as a result of the coronavirus, and there are forty-two other confirmed cases.

According to WHO (World Health Organization) predictions, there is the possibility of 16 million people becoming infected with the virus, said Feroz.

The Ministry of Public Health has made demands of the governmnent, said Feroz, including ordering restrictions on movement during the daytime, ordering people to self-isolate in their homes in Herat, preventing rallies, closing restaurants, parks, baths, swimming pools, and shutting down passenger’s buses in big cities.

There will be no lockdown in Herat but of course there will be some restrictions on the people’s movements, Feroz said.

Herat’s situation is very serious and there will be some restrictions during the day, and on Wednesday the orders to restrict people’s movements will be implemented, Feroz added.

This comes two days after the ministry asked the government to lockdown Herat city because of the spread of the coronavirus in the city.

Also, Feroz said that so far there have been no positive cases of COVID-19 in children in the country, but there are still big threats ahead.

Feroz also thanked the government for good coordination among agencies.

The reason we are in a good situation in combating COVID-19 in the country is the coordination between the government agencies and government leaders, Feroz said.

On Monday, however, the Ministry of Public Health accused the government of using the virus politically and neglecting its duties.

In today’s conference, Wahid Omer, President Ashraf Ghani’s senior advisor for public and strategic affairs, said that there was an order to all the organizations to cooperate with the Ministry of Public Health.

The Ministry of Public Health has the capacity to coordinate all the organizations in the fight against COVID-19, said Omer.

Feroz also thanked the government’s opposition, presumably refering to the Taliban, for giving the green light and allowing health teams to go to the areas under their control.