A police officer broadcasts epidemic prevention information on the street in Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 6, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhou Shengping)
KATHMANDU, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Nepali government on Thursday confirmed the death of five people from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the largest single day fatality.
With these deaths, Nepal has so far reported a total of 65 deaths from the pandemic.
"Five persons aged between 42 years to 72 years died of the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours," Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, told a press briefing on Thursday.
"The fatality rate has risen as infection is growing among the older people," Sameer Adhikari, joint spokesperson at the health ministry told Xinhua on Thursday. "Growing mobility of people after the lockdown was lifted has resulted in more infections among the older people whose immunity remain weaker compared to younger age people."
The Nepali government had enforced lockdown on March 24 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and lifted it on July 21. But the Himalayan country is witnessing resurgence in new COVID-19 cases in recent days after seeing a steep decline for nearly a month.
According to the Nepal's health ministry, the number of COVID-19 patients who are in critical condition is also rising rapidly in recent days. Till July 31, there were just 24 critical cases which have risen to 66 on Thursday, and many of them are the old.
At the same time, the Himalayan country lacks adequate infrastructure including ventilators to support more critical cases, according to the Nepali officials. "We have the limited Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) kits, Viral Transport Mediums (VTMs) and the ventilators. So, our focus has been on preventive measures," said Adhikari.
Meanwhile, Nepal reported 360 new cases on Thursday as the number of total COVID-19 cases reached 21,750. As new COVID-19 cases started to rise once again, the Nepali government has started to restrict movement of people.
An odd-even rule has been enforced for public and private vehicles plying inside Kathmandu Valley and other districts with more than 200 active cases on Thursday, according to Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs. Likewise, the home ministry also barred vehicular and public movements from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. in districts having more than 200 COVID-19 cases. Enditem
