Corona positivity rate over 10% after five months

By Mahima Devkota, Kathmandu, July 19: The positivity rate of the coronavirus infection has crossed more than 10 per cent after more than five months.

According to the data from the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the rate of coronavirus infection was recorded at 10.63 per cent on Tuesday. Out of the total testing of 3,357 samples, 357 cases were found positive for the virus.

The positivity rate of coronavirus was recorded as more than 10 per cent on February 12, which was 12.56 per cent.

According to Dr. Sameer Kumar Adhikari, Joint Spokesperson for the MoHP, the current scenario showed that there may be more COVID cases in the community than the number revealed in the daily COVID-19 report. 

Dr. Rabindra Pandey, a public health expert, said that when the infection rate goes more than 10 per cent this signals that the infection has reached the community but lacks enough testing. 

According to him, the virus has spread in many parts of the world, and even in the neighbouring country, India, where there is high mobility of people between the two countries. There is not any proper testing at the borders as well as in the airport due to which many infected people enter the country and spread in the community.

"The symptoms of the new sub-variant of Omicron are similar to flu and are less deadly due to which many people do not feel the need to get tested for COVID-19. Therefore, there are more infected than shown in figures," he added.

At the peak time of the third wave, the coronavirus infection rate in Nepal had reached 50 per cent on January 22, which was the highest since the Omicron variant was observed in the country. 

Dr. Sher Bahadur Pun, chief of the Clinical Research Unit at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku, said that B.A.5 is an ultrafast virus as it is the most contagious of the entire virus witnessed.