Nepal may witness peak of second wave of COVID-19 in June: Health Minister

Nepal may witness the peak of a second wave of COVID-19 in June if people flout precautionary measures, Minister for Health and Population Hridayesh Tripathi warned on Sunday.

Addressing a meeting of the House of Representatives on Monday, Tripathi said this assessment was made on the basis of the recent surge in infections in the nation.

"In the coming days, if we could not effectively follow the health protocols, the infection rate would rise and we might reach the peak of the second wave in June," Minister Tripathi said.

Nepal again has witnessed surge in COVID-19 cases from Mid-January which had started to decline from October of 2020. Tripathi further added that nation has been alerted about a sudden rise in cases in India with which the Himalayan nation shares an open border.

Meanwhile, Nepal recorded a total of 266 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours taking the total caseload of 278,210.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 102 persons infected with COVID-19 have recovered in the country on Monday. The total number of recoveries has reached 273,342 in the country till April 5.

Ministry further shared that there are 1,832 active cases across the country. Four infected patients have died in the past 24 hours. The COVID-19 death toll is 3,036 so far in Nepal.

( With inputs from ANI )