947 recoveries, 776 new infections and six fatalities in 24 hours

Kathmandu / Dec. 17: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) on Thursday confirmed 776 new cases of COVID-19, taking the national tally to 251,692.

“In 6,588 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests done in the last 24 hours, a total of 776 persons, 308 females and 468 males, were found with the novel coronavirus infection,” informed the MoHP in its daily update.

Currently, there are 9,580 active cases of COVID-19. Likewise, 444 persons, mostly those who had returned from abroad are stationed in quarantine.

Meanwhile, a total of 947 persons either staying in home isolation or receiving treatment in various health facilities recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours. The total number of COVID-19 recoveries in Nepal has spiked to 240,363.

Moreover, six people succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the COVID-19 death toll to 1,749.

Kathmandu Valley records 363 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday

The three districts of Kathmandu valley registered as many as 363 new cases of the coronavirus infection on Thursday.

Of the total 776 new cases in the country, Kathmandu district reported 273 infections while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur registered 49 and 41 infections respectively.

Of those newly infected in the valley, 152 are females while 211 are males.

Currently, there are 4,087 active infections in Kathmandu, 735 in Lalitpur, and 333 in Bhaktapur. The total number of active cases throughout Nepal, as of today, is 9,580.

So far, 452 fatalities from Covid-19 have been reported in Kathmandu, 97 in Bhaktapur, and 139 in Lalitpur. The nationwide death-toll has advanced to 1,749.

Meanwhile, a total of 89,530 people have recovered from the infection in Kathmandu while 13,773 have recovered in Lalitpur, and 8,159 in Bhaktapur.

Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Kaski are the three districts to have over 500 active cases. Likewise, Manang is the only district with zero live infections at present.

Antigen test of 300,000 people within Jan 13

The government is to carry out COVID-19 tests of 300,000 people within January 13 through the ‘antigen’ method.

The Ministry of Health and Population is to carry out the antigen tests to find out whether or not coronavirus infection has spread at the community-level.

COVID-19 Focal Person of the Ministry, Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, said that employees have been deputed across the nation for the test.

Shrestha shared that the antigen test would begin across the nation from coming Sunday. The test would be carried out at the places where there are more than 200 active coronavirus cases, added Shrestha.

He further said, “The antigen test will be carried out at the places where there are more than 200 active coronavirus cases, hotspot, big cities, dense settlements, and suspected people and it will find out the infection prevalence in the community level.”

Earlier, the Epidemiology and Infectious Disease Control Division had carried out ‘sero-surveillance’ to find out the infection prevalence at the community level.

The antigen test would detect results within 15 minutes and it does not need a lab for the test.

Division Director Dr. Basudev Pandey said that eight per cent of people were found infected in course of carrying out antigen tests in the Kathmandu Valley. RSS