The COVID-19 infection rate has declined by 60 per cent in the country in the last one month, according to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP). The number of active cases has dropped to 15,942 on Sunday from 39,405 on August 14.
Dr. Krishna Prasad Poudel, Spokesperson for MoHP, credited COVID-19 vaccination and adherence to the safety health protocols for the significant fall in the infection rate. The policy adopted by the government to protect people from the virus and the effective implementation of health standards were other reasons for the decline in the infection rate, said Dr. Poudel.
On Saturday, 760 cases were reported from the total 12,031 tests, which is significantly low, said Dr. Poudel, adding that the infection rate has dropped to 7 per cent of the total tests in the recent days. On Sunday, 596 new cases were recorded, of which 565 were detected through PCR tests and 31 through antigen tests.
Of the total 12,404 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 9,237 were Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) while 3,167 were antigen tests. According to the data with MoHP, seven districts, including Morang, Sunsari, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Makawanpur, Kaski and Rupandehi have more than 500 active cases each and 19 other districts have more than 200 active cases each. The active caseload has further declined to 15,024 on Sunday.
Of the active cases, 1,165 patients are admitted to various health facilities while remaining 13,859 are in home isolation. As per the latest update, 322 COVID-19 patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) while 113 are under treatment with ventilator support throughout the nation.
Meanwhile, 871 COVID-19 patients recovered from the infection during that period. Nepal has now recorded 775,943 cases of recovery, which is 96.7 per cent. The country also reported 10 deaths related to the disease over that period, taking the death toll to 11,231. The death rate now stands at 1.4 per cent.
As the government aims to vaccinate 33 per cent population by mid-October, 37.7 per cent population has been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines and 29.3 per cent full dose, as of today. Total 8,202,502 people have been administered the first dose and 6,450,644 full dose.
In total, 78,927 people were vaccinated in the last 24 hours, according to MoHP. The government aims to administer vaccines to over 21 million people aged above 18 years. It has also ensured that all the citizens will be vaccinated as per the prioritised target group.
