Professor Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) said that the number of COVID-19 cases in Kathmandu Valley has increased drastically. He warned that there will be severe health crises in the valley including the lack of hospital beds, ICU wards, Ventilators and medical staff in case of a continual surge of cases.More

Professor Dr. Gautam also all provincial governments bordering with India to take additional steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. He urged citizens of Kathmandu Valley to stay safely home and follow the protocols in case of going out.

He has confirmed 87 new cases of COVID-19 in Kathmandu Valley today. Out of this 76 in Kathmandu District 10 in Lalitpur and 1 in Bhaktapur.

In 6,622 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests performed in the last 24 hours, 87 persons were found with the virus infection in the valley itself.

The new cases were detected in districts such as Jhapa 8, Morang 24, Sunsari 19, Ilam 15, Dhanusa 24, Mahottari 3, Sarlahi 9, Siraha 1, Parsa 42, Rautahat 2, Bajura 3, Gorkha 6, Kapilvastu 32, Bhojpur 2, Dolakha 1, Kavre 2, Chitwan 1, Bara 14, Makwanpur 4, Rupandehi 4, Nuwakot 1, Ramechhap 1, Gulmi 1, Kanchanpur 2, Udayapur 1, Dang 3, Kaski 1, Parbat 1, Pyuthan 5, Dailekh 1, Surkhet 1, Jumla 1, Mugu 1, Baitadi 1, Doti 2, Achcham 7, Bajhang 3 and Kailali 21.

With this, the active COVID-19 cases in Kathmandu have crossed 500's mark.

Concerning the increasing cases of virus infection in the valley, the MoHP has called all government and private offices to halt all kinds of meetings and seminars and conduct them virtually.

Stating that the chances of lack of isolation beds, health workers and equipment in the Valley were high in the days to come, the health ministry urged everyone to adopt all safety measures against COVID-19 at any cost.

Moreover, 360 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded on Thursday across the nation, taking the national tally to 21,750 including 15,389 cases of recovery and 65 death cases.