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COVID-19 cases, casualties escalate amid restrictions



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By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Aug. 28: Nepal has witnessed constant rise in both cases and casualties from COVID-19 and on Thursday it witnessed the grim single-day spike of 1,111 new cases with eight more deaths.
Among the 12,629 samples tested through Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) in the last 24 hours, 1,111 people including 334 females and 777 males were found to be infected with the virus, said Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP).
According to the ministry, 569 COIVD-19 patients receiving treatment at various health facilities across the nation were discharged in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate now stands at 56 per cent, said Dr. Gautam.
As per the latest update, there are 15,273 active cases of COVID-19 of which 9,063 are in institutional isolation and 6,210 are in home isolation. Of the total active COVID-19 patients, 17 are receiving treatment with ventilator support.
According to the MoHP, two districts including Mustang and Humla have no active cases of coronavirus infection while nine districts including Morang, Dhanusha, Parsa, Bara, Mahottari, Rautahat, Sarlahi, Kathmandu, and Lalitpur have over 500 active cases now .

Constant surge in cases poses high risk in Valley
The situation in Kathmandu Valley is likely to worsen due to a constant surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. The cases are increasing sharply though the prohibitory order was imposed from last week and has been continued for one more week.
The MoHP confirmed the highest single-day spike of 377 new cases of COVID-19 in the Kathmandu Valley on Thursday.
Of the new cases, 270 were detected in Kathmandu, 41 in Bhaktapur and 66 in Lalitpur.
“Only imposing prohibitory order doesn’t work, the government must conduct contact tracing and testing effectively and also boost surveillance in all the alleys of the Valley to control the transmission of the virus,” said Dr. Rabindra Pandey, a public health specialist.
The establishment of proper isolation and treatment facilities is vital to manage the COVID-19 patients, said Dr. Pandey adding the prohibitory period must be utilised in deploying experts for contact tracing, testing and treating.
The rising number of cases in the Valley even after one week of prohibitory order shows that the virus has already spread among people in large numbers, said Dr. Pandey and added that tracking these people in a proper and effective way was essential.

Eight more deaths confirmed
Meanwhile, the MoHP on Thursday confirmed eight COVID-19 deaths across the nation. Five females and three males succumbed to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, said Dr. Gautam.
Among the deceased females are a 65-year-old of Lalitpur and two 70-year-olds from Rupandehi and Banke. Likewise, two women who were diagnosed with COVID-19, aged 23 from Bara and 32 from Kaski, also succumbed to the disease.
Likewise, a 48-year-old male from Kathmandu, a 50-year-old from Kapilvastu and a 62-year-old from Parsa died of COVID-19.
With this, the COVID-19 death toll of Nepal has reached 183 and the death rate stands at 0.52 per cent.