Covid-19 update: tally surges to 25,551 with 594 new cases

Kathmandu / Aug. 14: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has confirmed 594 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

In 11,575 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests done in the last 24 hours, as many as 594 persons were found with the virus infection, informed Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson of the ministry in the daily press briefing today.

The new cases were detected in Dhanusa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Jhapa, Siraha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Sindhuli, Udayapur, Parsa, Bara, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk, Bajura, Chitwan, Dhading, Humla, Kailali, Rupandehi, Sunsari, Rautahat, Makwanpur, Nawalparasi (East), Tanahun, Dolakha, Kailali, Kaski, Lamjung, Parbat, Syangja, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Surkhet, Kapilvastu, Achcham, Kanchanpur, Salyan, Dailekh and Bajhang.

Meanwhile, 240 COVID-19 patients receiving treatment at various health facilities across the nation were discharged in the last 24 hours after recovering from the virus infection. The recovery rate now stands at 66.8 per cent.

Currently, there are 7,913 active cases of COVID-19 and 14,638 persons, mostly those who had returned from abroad, are placed in quarantine.

With this, the national COVID-19 tally has reached 25,551 including 17,077 cases of recovery and 99 death cases.

Govt asks private hospitals to allocate 20% bed for COVID-19 patients

The government has asked private hospitals to allocate 20 percent of their beds for COVID-19 patients as the increasing number of cases has left only a few beds available for new COVID-19 patients in the coronavirus-designated hospitals.

As COVID-19 is ringing alarm bells in densely populated cities including the capital city Kathmandu, the Ministry of Health and Population on Friday urged private hospitals to allocate 20 percent of their beds to admit new COVID-19 patients.

The health ministry has urged private hospitals to admit new patients in the presence of hub hospitals. The government has declared 25 hospitals across the country as hub hospitals.

However, private hospitals in Kathmandu Valley should coordinate with hub hospitals and take permission from the health ministry to admit new COVID-19 patients.

The government decided to direct private hospitals to allocate beds for COVID-19 patients as coronavirus-designated hospitals, especially in the Kathmandu Valley, are already overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

In the last few days, the Kathmandu Valley has been recording at least 100 new cases every day. According to the health ministry, there are more than 1,000 active COVID-19 cases in the Valley.