252 in ICU, 65 in ventilator and 1,594 in institutional isolation centers

KATHMANDU, April 26: A total of 72 people have died in the last three days due to COVID-19 infection, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.  

As per the statistics, 16 people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, and 14 people died on Saturday. Similarly, five people died of the virus on Friday. Likewise, swabs of 37 more dead people turned out to be COVID-19 positive in the last three days. The total number of deaths from coronavirus in Nepal has reached 3,164. Currently, the daily mortality rate in Nepal has reached 1.05 percent. 

The infection rate has increased to 30.97 percent in the last 24 hours. This is about 1 percent more than the previous day. In the last 24 hours, 10,078 samples were tested. The total number of infected people in Nepal has reached 300,119. There are 19,382 active cases across the country. Of them, 252 are being treated in ICU, 65 in ventilator and 1,594 in institutional isolation. Most of the infected are young people. More than 500 people have been infected in nine districts, including Morang, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Kaski, Dang, Banke, Rupandehi and Parsa.

The Ministry of Health and Population has directed the hospitals to provide information on the preparation of the dependency unit as per the allocated budget. The ministry has stated that it will withdraw the budget in case of no work. Dr Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the Ministry, said that unlike the first wave of COVID-19, the number of cases is rapidly increasing resulting in an increase in death rate. Last year, the infection reached 4,000 to 5,000 per day, but the death toll was low. 

“The number of deaths due to the UK variants virus has also increased,” Gautam said. "We have been saying that the current variant looks deadlier than before, which is why it is not easy to recover from an infection," he said.

COVID treatment coordinator of Patan Health Sciences Institute, Dr Bimal Pandey said that the number of critically ill patients has increased due to the rapid spread of the new variant of the virus and the death rate has increased accordingly. Last year, 15,000 people were tested daily and up to 5,000 people were infected. “This year, more than 3,000 people were found infected in 8,000-9,000 tests,” he said.

"The new variant seems to be spreading fast," he said. Within two weeks, the infection rate is high, with patients in ICUs and ventilators. "Getting to the ventilator is a life-and-death situation," he said.

According to Gautam, despite the government's order to strictly adhere to public health standards, the transmission rate is increasing daily. Gautam's analysis is that the infection is increasing due to the activities like daily meetings, conferences, seminars and weddings. 

 
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