By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Sept. 24: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has recommended the government to enforce lockdown if the active cases of COVID-19 cross 25,000.
A meeting of the Incident Command System (ICS) under the MoHP made the recommendation to the government to this effect on Wednesday.
Speaking in the regular media briefing Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the MoHP, said that the available health resources and infrastructure would not be enough to manage more than 25,000 active cases. Therefore, lockdown will have to be considered in such situation, he added.
“The services and activities that cannot follow all the safety protocols must be closed for at least a month in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases,” said Dr. Gautam.
According to the latest data from the MoHP, Nepal has 17,414 active cases as of Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the ICS has accredited concerned bodies to take action or recommend action against hospitals and labs that are charging more than government-fixed rate for PCR tests.
Nepal has recorded 67,804 COVID-19 cases with the confirmation of 1,172 new cases on Wednesday. Kathmandu Valley alone recorded 637 new cases today.
“In 9,449 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 1,172 persons were found with the novel coronavirus infection, said Dr. Gautam.
Of the 637 new cases recorded in the Kathmandu Valley, 492 cases, including 168 females and 324 males, were detected in Kathmandu, 95 cases, including 47 females and 48 males, were found in Bhaktapur and 50 cases, including 26 females and 24 males, were recorded in Lalitpur.
According to the ministry, 1,893 COVID-19 patients receiving treatment at various health facilities and isolation centres across the nation were discharged in the last 24 hours after recovering from the virus infection. The recovery rate now stands at 73.7 per cent, informed Dr. Gautam.
Of the 17,414 active cases of COVID, 8,228 patients are in institutional isolation and 9,186 are in home isolation. Likewise, 7,104 persons, mostly those who had returned from abroad, are staying in quarantine facility.
Of the active cases, 230 are receiving treatment through intensive care unit and 43 are receiving treatment with the ventilator support across the nation. With the confirmation of seven fatalities in the last 24 hours by the ministry, Nepal's COVID-19 death toll reaches 436.
Bagmati State has highest cases
Of the 67,804 COVID-19 cases, 17,467 are females and 49,865 males. The Bagmati State has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases, including both male and female patients.
According to the latest update of the MoHP, Bagmati State reported the highest number of cases with 14,582 males and 7,872 females followed by State 2 with 12,164 males and 2,254 females. Likewise, State 5 has 7,444 male COVID-19 patients and 2,289 females.
Likewise, 5,113 males and 1,790 females were infected with the virus in Sudhurpachchim State and Gandaki State recorded 2,933 males and 914 females infected with the same. The Karnali State has recorded the lowest number of COVID-19 cases with 2,659 male and 592 females.