Coronavirus in Afghanistan: Health Ministry confirms three suspected cases

KABUL: Three suspected cases of coronavirus have been reported in Afghanistan, the country's public health ministry confirmed on Sunday, adding that blood samples had been sent to the capital, Kabul, for analysis and diagnosis.

According to Tolo News, the three suspected coronavirus cases were from Herat province. The patients, yet to be confirmed once a diagnosis has been made, "recently returned from Qom city in Iran", it added, quoting ministry spokesperson Wahidullah Mayar.

The test results from the blood samples sent to Kabul would be available soon, Mayar added.

Schools, cultural centres closed in Iran

A day prior, Iran had ordered schools, universities, and cultural centres be closed after a coronavirus outbreak killed five people in the Islamic republic. The latest death was reported from among 10 new cases, authorities had said.

Coronavirus — official known as COVID-19 — has killed 2,345 people in China, the epicentre of the epidemic, since December 2019 and 17 elsewhere in the world.

The outbreak in the country had first surfaced on Wednesday, when authorities said it claimed the lives of two elderly people in Qom, a holy city south of the capital, Tehran, making them the first confirmed deaths in the Middle East.

"We have 10 new confirmed cases of COVID-19," Iran's health ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour had told state television on Saturday. "One of the new cases has unfortunately passed away."

The latest cases take to 28 the total number of confirmed infections in Iran.