Nepal on Wednesday reported the highest number of new fatalities and infections from COVID-19 for the third day in a row as the situation keeps aggravating in the Himalayan country.
As per the data released by Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population on Wednesday, a total of 58 people died and 8,659 people were infected with the coronavirus in the last 24 hours. It was the first time that the country's daily COVID-19 cases surpassed 8,000.
Nepal reported over 7,000 daily COVID-19 cases on Monday and Tuesday.
The Himalayan country, which had seen less than 100 daily cases on most days in March, started to see a rapid rise since April. "Now, due to rapid rise in the cases, the hospitals are being overwhelmed by surging caseloads," said Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the health ministry at a press meet on Wednesday. "Most hospitals are taking patients exceeding their available beds and ventilators."
The cases surged by over 127 percent this week compared to last week, according to the ministry.
"Lumbini, one of the seven provinces, saw a rise in cases by 384 percent this week compared to last week," said Dr. Archana Shrestha, associate professor at the public health department of the Kathmandu University at the press meet.
The province lies in the southwestern region of the country and borders India, which is also badly affected by the second wave of the coronavirus.
According to Dr. Shrestha, Nepal is still in an early stage of infections from the second wave. "Nepal has witnessed one-third of potential infections so far and two-thirds of infections are yet to take place," she said. As of Wednesday, the South Asian country has recorded a total of 359,610 cases with 66,352 active cases.
Nepal's health ministry has projected 11,000 infections in a single day in the worst-case scenario. However, Dr. Krishna Prasad Paudel, director of the epidemiology and disease control division under the health ministry told Xinhua last week that daily infections could grow by 10 times of that number, provided that strict interventionist measures were not taken.
Amid spreading cases, prohibitory orders have been issued in 50 out of 77 districts, according to the health ministry.
