18 Nov, 2021
Kathmandu, Nov. 18 Nepal has received 22,572,930 doses of vaccines against COVID-19 as of Wednesday. The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) said that 13,020,000 doses of vaccines were purchased and another 9,552,930 doses were received as grants from various nations.
Speaking at a media briefing today, Dr. Krishna Prasad Poudel, spokesperson for the MoHP, informed that 368,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine were received by the ministry on Wednesday. These vaccines were received under COVAX facility from the Government of Canada. According to Dr. Poudel, 16,637,770 doses of vaccines were administered so far.
Dr. Poudel informed that 29.5 per cent of the population of 30,378,055 had received their first dose of the vaccine and that 25.3 per cent had received their full dose as of Wednesday. In total, 101,761 people were vaccinated in the last 24 hours.
Dr. Poudel also urged everyone to follow all health protocols, including washing hands frequently, maintaining social distance and wearing masks, to stay safe from the pandemic.
The MoHP on Wednesday confirmed 412 new cases of COVID-19, of which 363 were detected through PCR tests and 49 through antigen tests.
Dr. Poudel said that the nationwide COVID-19 tally through PCR method reached 818,035 and that through antigen tests reached 94,223.
Of the total 11,993 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 10,106 were Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) while 1,887 were antigen tests, informed Dr. Poudel.
According to Dr. Poudel, the Kathmandu Valley recorded 140 new infections over that period. Of these, 102 cases were confirmed in Kathmandu, 23 in Lalitpur and 15 in Bhaktapur.
According to the MoHP data, three districts of the valley have more than 500 active cases each and 10 other districts have more than 200 active cases each. Meanwhile, Manang, Okhaldunga, Humla, Dolpa and Jajarkot are the districts with zero active case as of today.
The active caseload reached 7,636 on Wednesday. Of these, 473 patients are admitted to various health facilities while the remaining 7,163 are in home isolation.
As per the latest update, 224 COVID-19 patients are admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) while 60 are under treatment with ventilator support throughout the nation.
Meanwhile, 202 COVID-19 patients recovered from the infection during that period. Nepal has now recorded 798,916 cases of recovery, with recovery rate standing at 97.7 per cent. The country also reported one death related to the disease over that period, taking the death toll to 11,483. The death rate now stands at 1.4 per cent. Rising Nepal