Nepal urges citizens to follow health safety protocols as COVID cases rise in neighbouring countries

Nepal on Thursday urged its citizens to follow health safety protocols in view of the risk of coronavirus infection in the country following an ''increasing trend'' of Covid cases in neighbouring countries, including India.

In a press release issued by the health ministry, spokesperson Sangeeta Kaushal Mishra said that though the number of Covid infections seems to have somewhat decreased in Nepal, the risk of the disease is still prevalent.

''The ministry requests one and all to follow the health safety protocols and make others do the same by being sensitive and responsible for the prevention and control of the coronavirus infection as its risk is still prevalent in the present context of the increasing trend of COVID-19 in neighbouring countries, including India, in the past few days,'' the release said.

The ministry also urged those who have completed three months since vaccination to also get the booster dose.

Meanwhile, as of Thursday, the total number of active Covid cases in Nepal was 298. In the last 24 hours, only 15 new coronavirus cases were reported from across the country.

With 2,380 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,49,974, while the active cases increased to 13,433, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll climbed to 5,22,062 with 56 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.