Nepal records one COVID-19 death every three and a half hours

Published On: August 29, 2020 04:14 PM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


Death rate keeps on rising while recovery rate goes down 

KATHMANDU, Aug 29: According to the data compiled by the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), one Nepali succumbs to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) every three and a half hours.

Nepal reported a total of 88 cases of fatalities due to this contagious virus in the last 12 days which means an average of 7.33 people lost their lives a day. This rate suggests that one person dies of the disease every 3 hours and 42 minutes.

On the other hand, the death rate has climbed to 0.53 percent which was 0.22 percent a month ago. While one out of every 500 infected would earlier succumb to COVID-19, the mortality has increased to one in every 200 COVID-19 patients. According to international news agencies, one death is being reported every 15 seconds worldwide.

According to MoHP Spokesperson Dr Jageshwar Gautam, the number of infected and deceased has been soaring in Nepal of late. Twelve more people died of this infectious disease on Friday alone, the highest single-day count since Nepal reported its first COVID-19 related death earlier on May 16. During that time, Nepal had reported only 281 cases. A total of 195 people so far have succumbed to this disease as of Friday afternoon. Nepal witnessed as many as 9,148 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the last 12 days (August 17-28).

Nepal had reported as many as 19 deaths by June 15, a month after the first case of fatality was recorded. The COVID-19 tally on that day stood at 6,091.

With the government taking a decision to lift the nationwide lockdown on June 21, four months after its enforcement of March 23 in the wake of COVID-19 spread, people gradually started resuming their normal activities. Consequently, COVID-19 cases started increasing owing to the increased movement of people. Nepal had recorded a total of 5,760 cases with 19 deaths on June 14, while this number soared to 17,177 after a month by July 15. As many as 39 people had already died by that time.

Though the rate of new infection was slightly lower in the Nepali month of Shrawan (July 16 to August 16) compared to June and July, the death rate had trebled in that month. As many as 68 more people died of this disease in Shrawan while 9,964 new cases were recorded. The total number of deaths in the country had surpassed 100 by August 15.

Of the 9,148 newly-confirmed COVID-19 patients, 88 lost their lives in the last 12 days .

According to the officials at the ministry, the latest data suggests that Nepal is sure to witness a dreadful situation. They said that the rising death rate and plummeting recovery rate are worrisome.

COVID-19 mortality rate in Mid-June was 0.3 percent. One out of every 400 infected used to die of this disease at that time. The rate dropped to 0.22 percent by mid-July but rose again to 0.39 percent by mid-August and 0.53 of late.

Available data also suggests that the recovery rate has also dropped to 53 percent which used to be 75 percent in the early days


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