Nepal reports record high single-day Covid-19 cases

Kathmandu, Sep 12 (IANS) With 1,454 new cases, Nepal witnessed a record high single-day spike in the number of infections recorded in the last 24 hours.The last record high number was recorded on September 4 with 1,354 new infections in a day, reports Xinhua news agency."With the new cases, the total Covid-19 cases in Nepal reached 51,919," Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, said at a briefing on Friday.Cases started to resurge in the country since the government officially ended the nearly four-month-long lockdown on July 22 allowing most of the economic activities to resume. The cases have nearly tripled from 17,994 reported on July 21.Nepali officials expect a continued rise in the cases in the upcoming days. "In the worst case scenario, we have expected the cases to surge upto 90,000," Sameer Kumar Adhikari, joint spokesperson at Ministry, told Xinhua.Despite rising cases, the local administrations in the Kathmandu Valley have eased restrictions imposed on transport services and business activities starting for a week which started on Thursday.The valley has emerged as a major Covid-19 hotspot in the country with 696 out of the 1,454 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry.While the total cases were largely confined initially among the Nepali migrant population who had returned home after the pandemic, it has now spread in the communities. According to Adhikari, more than 95 per cent cases are locally transmitted in the recent days.Nepal also reported five new Covid-19 deaths on Friday, increasing the overall death toll to 322.
--IANS ksk/