Nepal likely to witness 193,856 new cases of COVID-19 in coming five months: Health ministry

9,693 may need treatment in ICUs

KATHMANDU, August 6: Nepal is likely to witness 193,856 new cases of COVID-19 in the coming five months, according to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP).

Dr Krishna Poudel, spokesperson for MoHP, in a meeting of the Education and Health Committee under the House of Representatives (HoR), said that Nepal is likely to witness 193,856 new cases of COVID-19 in the coming five months if the present trend of COVID-19 infection persists.

Related story

Trace and test

Spokesperson Poudel also maintained that as many as 9,693 COVID-19 patients may need treatment in intensive care units (ICUs) during that period.

Nepal has been recording around 4,000 new cases of COVID-19 in recent days which is so far the highest single-day surge of new cases after the government eased the prohibitory orders. The health ministry recorded 3,938 new cases on Thursday. The number was 4,107 on Wednesday and 3,383 on Tuesday.

The officials at the health ministry have said that Nepal – largely devastated by the delta variant – has already been hit by the third wave of COVID-19.

There are 34,422 active cases of COVID-19 across the country as of Thursday afternoon. Of them, 31,108 COVID-19 patients are currently in home isolation, 3,314 in institutional isolation, 713 in ICUs and 158 are on ventilators.