KATHMANDU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in Nepal surpassed the 70,000 mark on Friday, with a rapid increase in recent weeks, Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population said.
"With 1,313 new cases in the last 24 hours, total COVID-19 cases in Nepal reached 70,614," Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson at the ministry, told a press conference.
Ever since the Himalayan country lifted a nearly four-month lockdown in late July, the number of infections doubled in nearly a month, according to the health ministry data.
According to a survey conducted by Nepal's Health Research Council, a government body responsible for setting standards for health research, the mobility of people is mainly responsible for the spread of the coronavirus.
The survey, conducted among 577 people who had recovered from COVID-19 through quantitative and qualitative methods, revealed that 99 percent of them had traveled before being infected.
Of those, 69 percent had traveled inside the country while the rest had toured internationally.
As the COVID-19 cases are on the rise, the Nepali government is struggling to arrange testing facilities for all the people who want their swabs to be tested. The government has arranged the facility from 55 laboratories across the country.
Gautam notified that the government has the policy of conducting swab tests on people who have developed COVID-19 symptoms and those who are at risk of being infected.
"Those who stayed close to the infected person, those facing respiratory problems suddenly, returnees from abroad who have stayed at quarantine from five to seven days and people who work in the frontline to control the pandemic should be tested for the coronavirus," Gautam said.
"People who need to be kept at the Intensive Care Unit, people with existing long-term health conditions, patients who need to undergo surgery for other ailments and those who need to get visa can also get tested for COVID-19." Enditem
