Nepal PM isolates after close contacts test Covid positive

Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba have gone into isolation after his close contacts tested positive for Covid-19.

The Prime Minister's Secretariat confirmed that Deuba will undergo a Covid test on Sunday.

He went into isolation on Saturday after CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal tested positive for the virus.

Deuba and Dahal had attended a high-level political mechanism meeting held in Baluwatar two days ago.

The Prime Minister and some other top officials were identified as close contacts of dhala following his diagnosis.

"A PCR test conducted on the party chair yesterday (Friday) evening showed Corona positive," Dahal's secretariat said in a Facebook post.

"Since he has been in isolation as per the doctor's advice, all his scheduled programmes have been cancelled."

After his re-election as the party chair on January 3, Dahal has been meeting a host of leaders at his residence.

Several top leaders from the Maoist Party have also tested positive.

Nepal has seen a steady surge in Covid-19 cases of late, with a total of 24 Omicron infections.

The Ministry of Health said on Saturday that the country reported 696 new cases from 9,762 polymerase chain reaction tests across the country. An additional 248 people tested positive from 3,502 antigen tests.

Public health experts have urged all to follow safety protocols and maintain utmost caution amid the twin threats posed by the Delta and Omicron variants.

Nepal's active cases stand at 6,140.

Public health experts say political leaders have not taken the threat seriously, which led to the spread of the virus.