Nepal surpasses China's COVID-19 infection number, toll tops 86,000

COVID-19 cases in Nepal have surpassed that of China, lodging a total of 86,823 till October 3, the Ministry of Health and Population confirmed on Sunday.

The number of cases exceeded the total number of infections reported by China, the host nation for coronavirus, whose medication is yet to be known. The Northern neighbour of the Himalayan nation till October 4, had recorded 85,450 cases amid the speculation that the toll could be higher and has been kept hidden by the Chinese Communist Party.

As per the record of Nepal Health Ministry, a total of 2,250 new cases were recorded in the Himalayan nation with 1,329 recovery cases and 7 deaths.

According to Dr Jageshwor Gautam, one of the spokespersons at the Ministry, Nepal currently hosts a total of 22,219 active cases of coronavirus while 4,203 people are under quarantine.

Kathmandu Valley, which has a high population density, recorded 1,599 new cases of infection. Among the three districts, the capital Kathmandu recorded a total of 1,373 cases of contamination followed by Lalitpur (187) and Bhaktapur (39).

Criticised for slow and minimal PCR tests (Polymerase Chain Reaction), Nepal by Sunday had only conducted 10,74,448 samples since January, when it first reported the virus. In the last 24 hours, a total of 12,784 PCR tests were conducted.

( With inputs from ANI )