Afghan authorities on Saturday imposed a lockdown in the capital city of Kabul for at least a period of three weeks as the country witnessed an increade in the number of coronavirus cases.

The lockdown comes a day after the Ministry of Public Health on Friday evening reported 15 new cases of the coronavirus in the country — 11 in Herat, three in Darah, one in Ghazni — which took the total number of infections to 110, TOLO News reported.

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Two foreign diplomats and four service members of NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan were among the positive cases in the country, according to the ministry.

The country has reported three coronavirus deaths so far.

Kabul Governor Mohammad Yaqub Haidari said all residents must stay at home, avoid non-essential movements and avoid gatherings.

He said the residents should be ready to provide valid reasons, such as health or security needs, if they leave their homes.

“All buses should stop movements in the city. All stores, except grocery stores, should remain closed,” TOLO News quoted the Governor as saying,

On Thursday, The government said that up to 10,000 prisoners will be released in the next 10 days in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus in jails across the country,

On Wednesday, President Ashraf Ghani released a list of 20 representatives to negotiate with the Taliban, an important step towards the much-awaited intra-Afghan talks.

According to the ministry of Public Health figures, a total of 94 people have been infected by the COVID-19 virus in Afghanistan, while four have died.

On Wednesday, an unidentified gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a Sikh gurdwara in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul that killed at least 27 worshippers and wounded as many, in one of the deadliest attacks on the minority community in the country.

More than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan’s war last year, the United Nations announced Saturday, as a historic partial truce kicked in across the country. India did not recognise Afghanistan diplomatically when Taliban was ruling the country from 1996 to 2002.