COVID-19: Afghanistan pardons over 12,000 prisoners

KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree to release over 12,000 inmates and to reform various prisons as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, officials said on Monday.

A total of 12,399 inmates convicted for different crimes would be pardoned as per certain parameters, Rashid Totakhail, the head of prison affairs, told a news conference in the capital Kabul.

"All of the prisoners released as per the decree have been directed to stay quarantined at their homes for at least 14 days as a precautionary measure in the wake of the coronavirus,” Totakhail added.

On Monday, a health official confirmed close to 200 more cases of the coronavirus in the country, taking the total number to 1,703.

Waheedullah Mayar, Health Ministry's spokesman, said in a news conference that 172 new cases of the coronavirus were registered in the country over the past 24 hours.

"Across the country, 13 coronavirus patients recovered over the past 24 hours with which the number of recovered patients reaches 220,” the spokesman said.

The death toll in the country rose to 57 as seven more people died due to the coronavirus.