KATHMANDU: "Nepal has entered the second stage of coronavirus transmission," Health Ministry's spokesperson Dr Bikash Devkota said in the press briefing on Saturday, the day Nepal confirmed it's first locally transmitted case in the far-west.

Three new cases of Covid-19 were registered on Saturday. One of the newly infected persons is a relative of the fourth person to have contracted the disease. With no recent travel history, the 34-year-old female from Kailali contracted the infection from her brother-in-law who had returned from Dubai on March 20 and was admitted to hospital on March 24. With this, the first person-to-person transmission in Nepal has been confirmed.

The Health and Population Ministry spokesperson said that the country has reached the second stage as the virus is infecting local hosts now.

Today's new cases have taken Nepal's infection total to nine, four of which hail from the far-west.