14,592 people under quarantine; 109 infected cases of coronavirus

Kathmandu / May 09: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), in its regular press briefing, shared the latest updates from across the country on government’s response to Covid-19 crisis.

Aiming to scout the active cases of COVID-19 infection in the county, as of today, 72,239 tests — including 16,309 tests through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method and 55,930 Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) — have been carried out, where 1,742 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours.

At present, there are 14,592 people under quarantine in various facilities across the country.

Furthermore, 143 persons are in isolation. Among those isolated, two are in Kathmandu valley while the remaining 141 are outside.

The government’s mobile application Hamro Swasthya and web portal covid19.mohp.gov.np have registered 254 entries in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of self-evaluated entries to 34,051.

Four new persons have been added to the red-zone list in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of those in the red zone to 340. Their contact tracing is being carried out by the concerned authorities.

As of today, the country has witnessed 109 cases of coronavirus infection including 78 males and 31 females while 31 persons have been discharged from the hospital.

In an attempt to pace the testing in high-risk areas of virus transmission, medical teams have been dispatched to collect more samples for PCR testing. The areas include Udayapur, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat and most districts in Province 5. The government aims to collect over 5,300 samples within three days, of which 400 samples have already been collected.

Seventy-eight people are currently receiving treatment for COVID-19 at various health facilities across the country — one in Bharatpur, 27 in Birgunj, 20 in Biratnagar, six in Rupandehi, and 24 in Nepalgunj. All the patients are reported to be in normal health condition.

Dr Devkota, speaking on behalf of the ministry, appealed to the public to maintain physical distancing protocol which is the most important precautionary measure against potential spread of coronavirus. He further requested the public to properly wash fruits and vegetables when brought from outside.