KATHMANDU: The number of people infected with coronavirus has reached nine in Nepal.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the number of coronavirus cases has reached nine after three more people tested for the novel virus on Saturday.

Those infected with the virus are 21-year-old youth who has recently arrived in Kailali from Mumbai, 41-year-old man who recently arrived in Kanchanpur from Uttarakhanda, India and a 34-year-old woman in Kailali, the relative of 34-year-old man recently diagnosed with the novel virus in the same district.

Earlier, Nepal had confirmed six coronavirus cases. The sixth COVID-19 patient is a woman from Baglung district and she had arrived in Kathmandu on a QR 652 flight of Qatar Airways.

Similarly, two persons who arrived on the same flight were confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 and are currently receiving treatment.

A 19-year-old Nepali girl who had arrived in Nepal from France via Qatar transit had tested positive for coronavirus at first. Then, a 22-year-old girl who had recently returned from Belgium had tested positive for COVID-19.

Earlier, a 34-year-old man who had recently returned from Dubai had tested positive for COVID-19. He is currently undergoing treatment at Seti Provincial Hospital in Dhangadi.

Nepal on January 24 had confirmed the first case of deadly coronavirus in the country identifying the infected person as a Nepali student who recently returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan. He was discharged following treatment.