Highlights: Health Ministry’s media briefing on govt's COVID-19 response

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), in its regular press briefing, shared the latest updates from across the country on Covid-19 response.

Aiming to scout the active cases of COVID-19 infection in the county, as of today, 63,101 tests including 13,414 tests through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method and 49,687 Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT) have been carried out, where 1,479 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours.

In one of today’s major developments, 10 new cases of the COVID-19 infection have been officially confirmed by the ministry. A 36-year-old male from Birgunj has tested positive for the infection after PCR testing at the Kathmandu-based National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL). Similarly, nine cases of the novel infection have been reported from Nepalgunj. Among the nine, five are male while four are females. The nine cases were confirmed after their swab samples were tested at the Nepalgunj laboratory. Their ages range from 7 to 58 years.

Preparations are underway to admit the newly discovered patients of the novel infection to the Nepalgunj COVID-19 hospital.

Furthermore,77 persons are in isolation. Among those isolated, four are in Kathmandu valley while the remaining 73 are outside.

The government’s mobile application Hamro Swasthya and web portal covid19.mohp.gov.np has registered 299 entries in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of self-evaluated entries to 29,984.

Two new persons have been added to the red-zone list in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of those in the red zone to 321. Their contact tracing is being carried out by the concerned authorities, said Spokesperson Devkota.

As of today, the country has witnessed 69 cases of coronavirus infection while 16 persons have recovered from the disease.

Among those 16 who reported full recovery, a youth who had been discharged a week ago upon recovery from Coronavirus infection, has been admitted to Narayani Hospital, today.

READ ALSO: Covid-19 recovered patient admitted to Narayani Hospital a week after discharge

With the recovery of 16 persons, 44 are currently receiving treatment at various health facilities across the country — one in Dhangadhi, one in Bharatpur, nine in Birgunj, 31 in Biratnagar, one in Rupandehi, one in Nepalgunj. All the patients are reported to be in normal health condition.

Dr Devkota, speaking on behalf of the ministry, informed that today the world is observing the World Press Freedom Day. He took this opportunity, to laud the media personnels for their tireless efforts, especially in the times of such crisis. Dr Devkota also urged the media to not reveal the identity details of those infected and recovered from the COVID-19 to remove the possibility of discrimination they could face.

VIDEO: Nine from Nepalgunj, one from Birgunj test positive for Covid-19