Two more infected, tally reaches 278

Kathmandu - Two more people have been found infected today. A 52-year-old man from Mahottari and 26-year-old man from Kavre tested positive to Corona Virus, Ministry of Health and Population spokesperson Dr Bikas Devkota said at the regular press briefing. Earlier in the day, nine people were declared to be COVID-19 positive. This takes the total number of infected in the country to 278. This includes 224 men and 54 women.

Of then, 36 have recovered after treatment. Among the States, State no. 1 and State no. 5 have 109 infected each while State. 1 has 36 and Bagmati state has 16, five in Sudur Paschim and three in Gandaki state. So far, 92,440 have been tested including 65,749 through the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) method and 26, 691 through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, said Dr Devkota. In the past 24 hours, 5,243 tests were conducted in laboratories around the country. Currently, there are 16,266 people in quarantine while 320 are in isolation.

On the occasion, MoHP spokesperson Dr Devkota urged one and all to help and support the health workers involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Expressing concern over news reports of landlords harassing health workers, he said we should instead be boosting their morale at this point of time. "There are very few health workers in our country, and we need to take maximum service from them. Hence, they need to encouraged," he said. He also shared that the health workers in the frontline will be tested for Corona Virus.

Meanwhile, the MoHP has introduced the Health Workers and Staff Management Guidelines, 2020 for those directly involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. This is expected to facilitate and ease the management of doctors, health workers, nurse and other staffers working in the hospitals in the present situation.