Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli calls for strong vigil along country's southern border as corona cases rises

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has instructed authorities to intensify the vigil along the country's southern border with India due to a sudden spike in the number of coronavirus patients and directed the officials to properly manage the lockdown, Cabinet sources said on Tuesday.

Oli's instructions came on a day when the landlocked Himalayan nation reported 57 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in a single day, taking the total number of infections to 191.

Oli, who chaired a Cabinet meeting here, instructed the authorities to intensify the vigil in the southern border with India in view of the increasing number of coronavirus patients in Nepal, calling for the tightening of the lockdown, the sources said.

Nepal, which has entered the 50th day of its nationwide lockdown on Tuesday to contain the spread of coronavirus, is among the nations that has the least number of cases of the COVID-19 with no deaths.

On Tuesday, Nepal's health authorities announced 57 new COVID-19 cases.

"Among the infected, eight persons are from Kapilvastu district, nine from Rupandehi, 39 from Parsa, and one from Bara. All of them are males. This was the highest number of coronavirus cases reported in a day," the health ministry said in a statement.

The total number of infected people in the country has reached 191, the ministry confirmed.

Of the total cases, 33 patients have already been discharged after successful treatment and 158 active patients are undergoing treatment at different hospitals across the country. So far there is no death related to coronavirus in the country.

On Monday, the Nepal government said the nation reported 24 new coronavirus cases, including eight who returned from India.

Earlier, some of the confirmed coronavirus cases in Nepal were persons returning from the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in New Delhi's Nizamuddin area in March

There are reports of hundreds of people entering the country daily through different border points despite the deployment of security personnel at all major entry points along the Nepal-India border to check cross-border movement of people during the lockdown.