By Ajita Rijal

Kathmandu, July 8: Almost 99 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in Nepal are asymptomatic and of them 97 per cent are imported cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP)
“Of the around 16,000 infected cases so far, 99 per cent have no symptoms. They are infected, but they do not show symptoms, so we have taken this as a different scenario from many other countries,” said Dr. Bashudev Pandey, Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) of MoHP.
“Also, as per our available data, 97 per cent of the cases are imported, meaning they came from other countries. Likewise, of the around 260,000 RT-PCR tests carried out so far, majority of cases were found in State 2 and State 5, but now it is seen that Sudurpaschim State is at high risk of virus cases,” added Dr. Pandey.
“Though PCR test was made mandatory for the foreign returnees, many returnees were found testing only through RDT method, or some were found untested,” said Dr. Pandey.
Around 17,000 people have returned home under the initiative of the government.
According to the Ministry, 35 per cent of the returnees were tested through PCR method and 35 per cent through RDT before landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
“After landing at the TIA, some of the returnees were found to have symptoms and their tests came positive for the virus,” added Dr. Pandey. He suggested conducting test strictly for the foreign returnees while rescuing them.
Meanwhile, Dr. Pandey also said that so far there was no confirmed presence of community transmission of the virus in Kathmandu and other places.
He said, “Almost 87 per cent of the virus infected people are male, aged between of 15-54 years, and most of them were abroad for work, so they got infected there, returned and stayed at quarantine or isolation centres. If the cases had spread in the community the transmission could have been seen equal among male and female. Though 3 to 4 per cent patients did not come from outside, they do have some link to quarantine or those who served there,” he said.
“COVID-19 could grip the community, so we have to be cautious but as of now there has not been community transmission,” Dr. Pandey said.
According to Dr. Pandey, of the 267 people of the Kathmandu Valley who tested positive for the virus, 175 are from Kathmandu, 41 from Lalitpur and 43 from Bhaktapur districts.
“Of these, 79 people had come to Kathmandu on rescue flights from various countries,” he added.
204 new cases, 688 recover
According to the MoHP, 204 new cases of COVID-19 were found in the last 24 hours from 6,133 Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) tests.
Currently, there are 8,634 active cases of COVID-19 nationwide, said Dr. Jageshwor Gautam,

Spokesperson of the MoHP at the daily briefing.
Meanwhile, 688 COVID-19 patients receiving treatment at various health facilities across the country were discharged in the last 24 hours after recovering from virus infection.
With this, the national COVID-19 caseload has reached 16,168, including 7,499 cases of recovery and 35 deaths.
28 cases in the valley, service
halted at Gangalal Hospital
According to the MoHP, 28 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours in the Kathmandu Valley. Of the 28 infected, 14 are from Kathmandu, 10 from Lalitpur and four are from Bhaktapur, said Dr. Gautam.
Earlier, on Monday, 54 cases of infection were confirmed in the Kathmandu valley. Likewise, 30 cases were recorded in the valley on Sunday.
Meanwhile all services except emergency ones have been halted at the Sahid Gangalal National Heart Centre following detection of COVID-19 in seven patients admitted to the hospital for treatment.
Dr. Pandey, director EDCD, confirmed that seven of the patients admitted to the Gangalal Hospital were found infected with the virus. The hospital administration said that the service was halted to contain the risk of virus transmission.