KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his wife, Rula Ghani, have tested negative for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), his chief spokesman said on Tuesday, following several media reports in the past few days that at least 20 palace employees had contracted the disease. “COVID-19 tests were conducted for the president and the first lady on their request. Both results are negative,” Sediq Sediqqi tweeted on Tuesday. There has been no official confirmation about the suspected infections at the palace. The reports, however, prompted the 70-year-old head of state, who suffers from a chronic stomach illness, to limit all of his meetings recently. “The president is leading government efforts on all fronts. All precautions are in place to make sure that his work environment is safe and healthy,” Sediqqi added. However, contrary to his advice earlier this month, urging people to practice social distancing, Ghani attended a massive outdoor gathering for an inauguration ceremony to propel him to power, where he hugged and shook hands with attendees. Ghani has limited his regular contact in recent weeks based on recommendations by health officials, Dawa Khan Menapal, another presidential spokesman, told Arab News. “The president has earnestly taken these recommendations and has been conducting cabinet meetings and other important gatherings through video conference,” he said. As of Tuesday, nearly 1,100 Afghans had tested positive for COVID-19, with 36 deaths reported, prompting the government to extend the lockdown by three more weeks on Saturday. War-torn and impoverished Afghanistan suffers from inadequate health facilities and lacks the resources to deal with an outbreak. Last week, the country’s first vice president, Amrullah Saleh, in an interview with a local TV said nearly 300,000, out of Afghanistan’s estimated population of 35 million people, would die from the virus in the next few months if measures are not taken to limit the outbreak. The spike in the number of infections follows increased attacks by the Taliban in recent weeks, with at least 40 Afghan security forces losing their lives in the past two days.