Over 100,000 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Nepal in past one month alone even as the number of PCR tests has come down

Published On: November 11, 2020 08:25 PM NPT By: Kamal Subedi | @Inspiredkamal

Infographics: Kamal Subedi/ Republica

COVID-19 has killed more than 500 COVID-19 patients since the first week of October

KATHMANDU, Nov 11: Although daily real-time PCR tests for the confirmation of COVID-19 infection have significantly reduced in recent days, Nepal has diagnosed more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases in just a month.

The COVID-19 case tally advanced to 202,329 on Wednesday afternoon as 2,569 people were diagnosed with this viral disease in the past 24 hours. The country had confirmed the first case on January 23 earlier this year. A China-returnee student was the first to test positive for the virus, according to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP).

The tally surged to 100 on May 9 as Nepal witnessed only two new cases on that day. No death as a result of COVID-19 infection was reported in Nepal until May 16. The daily count of COVID-19 cases, however, kept on rising day after day in the following days.

It took only 21 days to take the COVID-19 caseload in the country to reach 1000-mark. The tally stood at 1,042 on May 28 including 156 new cases confirmed on that day. Nepal’s COVID-19 death tally on that particular day was counted five.

With 1,246 new cases confirmed on September 10, Nepal’s national COVID-19 case tally crossed the 50,000 mark. As many as 317 people had already succumbed to the viral infection on that day.

Nepal reported 100,000th case of the disease that was first reported in Chinese province of Wuhan on October 9. With 2,059 cases of the COVID-19 reported on the day, Nepal’s coronavirus case tally hit 100,676. The same day also witnessed 600th death due to COVID-19 infection.

The highest single-day spike of the disease in the country was reported on October 10. Nepal’s health ministry confirmed 5,008 more cases including 2,672 cases added in the Kathmandu Valley on that day.

The virus kept spreading at such an alarming rate that it took only 13 days to take the total COVID-19 count to 153,008. The Kathmandu Valley, where lies the federal capital city of the country, witnessed 2,720 new cases – 1628 males and 1,092 females – taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Valley to 63,853 as of October 23.

The disease has so far claimed the lives of 1,174 people of which 440 are from the three districts of Kathmandu Valley. This includes 289 from Kathmandu district alone.

As many as 80 percent COVID-19 infected people --- 162,243 -- have so far recovered from the COVID-19 infection, according to the COVID-19 updates released by the ministry on Wednesday.