By Ajita Rijal

Kathmandu, Nov. 12: With the addition of 2,569 new cases in the last 24 hours, Nepal’s COVID-19 national tally has now topped 200,000 mark. This comes after around 10 months since the country reported its first case.
In late January, Nepal had confirmed its first case of the deadly virus on a Nepali student who had returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of COVID-19.
Later, in late March, Nepal, together with most countries around the globe, had clamped nationwide lockdowns and travel restrictions in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) on Wednesday confirmed 2,569 new cases, taking the national tally to 202,239 while the death toll has soared to 1,174, with 26 new fatalities today.
"Of the 10,081 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 2,569 persons were found to have been infected with COVID- 19 infection," said Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, MoHP spokesperson, at today’s press briefing.
Of the today’s new cases, 1,261 patients were recorded in the Kathmandu Valley’s three districts. Of them, 976 cases were detected in Kathmandu, 81 in Bhaktapur and 204 in Lalitpur district.

Free of cost test, treatment at designated government hospitals, laboratories
The government has amended its testing and treatment guidelines for providing free treatment and testing service at the government hospitals. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday had taken the decision to this effect.
“At the government laboratories and government hospitals, designated and listed by the Government for COVID-19 treatment, free test and treatment service will be provided to those patients with COVID-19 symptoms or infection. However, if the patients already have COVID-19 insurance from any insurance companies, all the test and treatment cost is to be covered from their insurance amount,” said Dr. Gautam.
Anyone capable and willing to contribute can continue to contribute to the COVID-19 test and treatment, he added.
Meanwhile, currently, there are 38,912 active cases of COVID-19, of which 10,519 patients are receiving treatment in institutional isolation and 28,393 are in home isolation across

the seven states. Also, 382 patients are admitted to the intensive care units (ICU) of hospitals, while 95 are receiving treatment with ventilator support, according to MoHP data.
Also, 1666 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours. With this, Nepal’s total recovery tally has reached 162,243. The recovery rate now stands at 81.2 per cent.
The MoHP today confirmed 26 more new COVID-19 fatalities, taking the national COVID-19 death toll to 1174.