Kabul, Feb 20 (IANS) Afghanistan reported 24 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Saturday, raising its national tally to 55,604, including 4,352 active cases, the country's Ministry of Public Health said.

"Laboratories conducted 1,209 tests during the past 24 hours, out of the total tests 24 were positive Covid-19 cases in five of Afghanistan's 34 provinces," the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 17 people recovered during the period while two deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 2,432, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Laboratories across Afghanistan have completed more than 284,770 tests since the outbreak of the pandemic in February last year.

--IANS int/rs