By Sampada A. Khatiwada
Kathmandu, Nov. 28: With 1,703 new cases of novel coronavirus confirmed on Friday, the national COVID-19 tally has surged to 229,343.
"In 10,460 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests done in the last 24 hours, as many as 1,703 persons, 696 females and 1,007 males, were found to have been infected with SARS-CoV-2," informed the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) in its update.
A total of five districts -- Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kaski and Jhapa -- have over 500 active cases of COVID-19 while Manang and Dolpa have become COVID-19-free districts with zero active cases.
Meanwhile, 1,236 COVID-19 patients receiving treatment in institutional isolation or staying in home isolation recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours. Nepal has now recorded 210,671 cases of recoveries and the recovery rate stands at a whopping 91.9 per cent.
As many as 23 people succumbed to the deadly virus in the last 24 hours and with this, the national COVID-19 related death tally has reached 1,435.
17,237 active cases
The Health Ministry further informed that currently there are 17,237 active cases of COVID-19 across the nation, of which 6,293 patients are receiving treatment in various institutional isolations and 10,944 are staying in home isolation.
Of the 6,293 patients placed in institutional isolation, 354 patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 54 are receiving treatment with ventilator facility.
Some 600 persons, mostly those who had returned from abroad, are placed in quarantine across the nation.
822 new infections in Valley
Of the total 1,703 new infections recorded across the nation on Friday, 822 new cases, 379 females and 443 males, were recorded in the Kathmandu Valley itself, revealed the MoHP in its daily update.
Currently, there are 7,867 active cases of COVID-19 in Kathmandu. The capital city's COVID-19 tally stands at 86,371, including 78,162 cases of recoveries and 342 fatalities.
Likewise, Bhaktapur has recorded 7,789 infections until now, of which 7,092 patients have already recovered while 89 succumbed to the infection. There are 608 active cases in Bhaktapur.  
Lalitpur district has recorded 12,964 cases of novel coronavirus infection until now, including 11,315 recoveries and 103 deaths. Currently, there are 1,546 active cases in Lalitpur.
60,264,241 cases worldwide
As per the report revealed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Friday evening, some 60,264,241 cases of the novel coronavirus infection were recorded worldwide. Likewise, the WHO has recorded 1,420,306 COVID-19 related deaths till date.
Until now, the United States of America has recorded the highest number of novel coronavirus infection with 12,411,925 confirmed cases, followed by India and Brazil with 9,309,787 and 6,166,606 confirmed cases respectively.