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Nepal reports record daily spike in COVID-19 cases

Global Times

Source: Xinhua Published: 2020/10/8 9:12:07

The COVID-19 situation in Nepal is worsening as the government reported Wednesday a record single day spike of 3,439 cases.

It is the first time that COVID-19 cases in Nepal surpassed 3,000 in a single day.

The last record high daily infections were reported on Oct. 2 when the country registered 2,722 cases.

With new infections reported in last 24 hours, the total COVID-19 cases in the country had reached 94,253, said Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson of Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population, at a regular press briefing on Wednesday.

It is also one of the deadliest days for the country with the government reporting 15 deaths from the virus in a single day, according to the health ministry.

"Along with the rapidly increasing infections, it has been difficult for COVID-19 patients to get hospital beds for admission in their accessible locations," said Gautam.

Kathmandu Valley has emerged as the new hotspot of the pandemic in the country. On Wednesday, 1,684 cases out of 3,439 were reported from there.

"Due to the rapid rise in cases in Kathmandu Valley, challenge has grown to provide treatment facilities in Kathmandu's hospitals," said Gautam. "If the current trend of infection in the valley continues, hospitals here cannot sustain this rising burden of new patients."

The COVID-19 dedicated hospitals have already discontinued taking mild cases of the COVID-19. Shanta Kumar Das, coordinator of COVID-19 Management Committee at the Kathmandu-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital told Xinhua on Tuesday that his hospital had been turning down several requests from the health ministry to admit COVID-19 patients due to the lack of the beds in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

Earlier, the Nepal's Health Ministry had concluded that the country may no longer provide required health facilities for the COVID-19 patients provided the number of active COVID-19 cases reaches 25,000.

On Wednesday, the number of COVID-19 cases in Nepal reached 25,007, according to the health ministry.

Dr. Roshan Pokharel, chief specialist at the health ministry, told Xinhua last week that existing infrastructure and human resources, particularly assigned in COVID-19 dedicated hospitals, would not be enough to handle active cases over 25,000.