Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Monday said that the country has planned to increase testing for the virus substantially to identify the infection early due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases.
In an televised address to the nation, Oli said that the government planned to conduct a test among 2 per cent of the country’s total population.
Nepal plans to conduct a test on nearly 600,000 people, which is equivalent to 2 per cent of the population.
As of Monday, the country has conducted tests on 51,642 people with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology, while 95,192 people have been tested with rapid test kits, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.
The Nepali government confirmed on Monday that as many as 682 people had so far been tested positive for the COVID-19 while four persons died of the virus.
During the address, Oli said that the rising number of cases was due to the failure to conduct required tests among the migrant Nepali workers who returned home particularly from neighbouring India.
However, the Prime Minister defended the government’s effort to control the COVID-19, saying that until April 11, Nepal had only less than 10 cases.
The government has extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic till June 2.
As the number of cases is rising sharply in recent days, Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs earlier announced more stringent measures to discourage movement of people from one district to another by making it harder for people to get vehicle passes.
Nepal has been under lockdown since March 24 after the second COVID-19 case was reported.