At least 570 doctors and health workers have been infected with COVID-19 in the western province of Herat, according to the local officials in the province.

Health officials in the province have said that the infection of health workers and doctors could pose serious challenges in the COVID-19 struggle.

Some parts were badly affected, we are trying to find replacements for the personnel and continue providing services, said Mohammad Arif Jalali, the head of Herat provincial hospital.

Meanwhile, a number of doctors who tested positive for COVID-19 have criticized the citizens for not taking the pandemic seriously.

Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammadi is one of the doctors who has been infected while treating the patients.

Whether we accept it or not, the coronavirus has spread in Afghanistan, I appeal to the people to take it seriously, do not take it casually, said Mohammad Ibrahim Mohammadi.

Today the health workers are serving the people on the frontline, if they fall ill and go to self-isolation, then the work of raising awareness and treating people will be impacted, said Ezmarai Haseen, the head of the Herat coronavirus task force.

Latest COVID-19 figures in Afghanistan:

The Ministry of Public Health on Thursday reported 787 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,296 samples tested in the last 24 hours, bringing the total accumulated cases in the country to 18,054.

The ministry also reported six COVID-19 deaths and 63 recovered patients in the last 24 hours.

Kabul had 323 positive cases reported in the past 24 hours.

Elsewhere, positive cases were reported in Herat (110), Kandahar (65), Nangarhar (54), Badghis (48), Khost (40), Paktia (36), Balkh (34), Paktika (32), Kunar (15), Nimruz (18), Takhar (8), Bamiyan (2), Logar (1) and Parwan (1).

The total number of known deaths is 300 and recovered cases is 1,585.

So far, the ministry has tested 43,569 samples countrywide.

The total active cases in the country is 16,170. The total accumulated confirmed cases is 18,054.

The number of deaths from COVID-19 globally is more than 386,111 and the number of global coronavirus cases is 6,514,359, according to Johns Hopkins University.