Nepal’s daily COVID-19 test positivity rate is almost three times more than that of India

KATHMANDU, Jan 23: Nepal on Saturday recorded as many as 10,254 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) through 20,187 tests conducted across the country.

Of the total test conducted on Saturday, 8,212 PCR tests and 2,042 antigen tests turned out to be positive for the disease. Based on this data, the COVID-19 positivity rate of the country stood at 50.79 percent. 

Likewise, in India, the neighboring country that shares an open border with Nepal, the number of new cases was 3,33,533 in the last 24 hours, reported the Hindustan Times. And, the daily positivity rate stands at 17.78 percent.

This shows that the daily positivity rate of Nepal is almost three times more than that of India despite its low numbers of tests and population compared to that of India.

As many as 16 people succumbed to COVID-19 in Nepal on Saturday. The number was 525 in India.

The Ministry of Health and Population has projected that the country will witness the peak point of coronavirus infection at the end of this month. 

Day-wise case count will surpass 20,000 from January-end onwards, Dr. Krishna Prasad Poudel, Director at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) maintained recently. 

He also added that as many as 13,000 patients will have to be admitted to the hospital by the time when infection rate reaches its climax. “Of them, 9,848 will have minor symptoms and 1,000 plus patients will have severe symptoms. Similarly, 395 people will be seriously ill,” he said. 

With the onset of the new wave of the virus triggered by the Omicron variant, Nepal has been witnessing an increased number of coronavirus cases.

The ministry made another projection that the third wave will begin receding from the first week of February. The new wave will come under control by mid-April.