KATHMANDU: Nepal reported 186 fresh coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

Speaking at a regular press briefing organized by the Ministry of Health and Population on Monday afternoon, Spokesperson Dr. Jageshwor Gautam said that the country’s COVID-19 tally has reached 17,844 with the new cases.

According to Dr. Gautam, the test conducted at the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan showed two people from Sunsari to have contracted coronavirus, while tests conducted at Koshi Hospital has confirmed the infection in one person from Jhapa, four from Sunsari and one from Ilam.

Similarly, in the tests conducted at the Provincial Public Health Laboratory, Biratnagar, one person from Morang and two from Jhapa and one person from Siraha and nine people from Saptari have been found infected in a test conducted at Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital, Rajbiraj.

A total of two people from Dhanusha were found infected in tests at Janakpur Provincial Public Health Laboratory and tests at the Narayani Hospital’s Birgunj laboratory have confirmed the infection in four people in Parsa and 46 from Bara.

In a test conducted at the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu, two people from Kathmandu, 23 from Sarlahi and four from Solukhumbu tested positive while one from Lalitpur has been found been infected in tests at Patan Hospital.

According to Dr. Gautam, eight people from Kaski and one person from Lamjung tested positive at Pokhara Institute of Health Sciences, Pokhara and two people from Tanahun and one from Syangja have been infected in a test conducted at the Provincial Public Health Laboratory in Pokhara.

Similarly, two persons from Banke, four from Rolpa, two from Salyan, seven from Rukum East and five from Dang tested positive at Bheri Hospital, Nepalgunj and tests conducted at Lumbini Provincial Hospital, Butwal, has confirmed coronavirus infection in one person from Dang.

One person from Dailekh tested positive in tests at Dailekh Hospital, reports of one person from Dailekh, one from Salyan, four from Surkhet, one from Humla and one from Kalikot came positive at Surkhet Provincial Hospital and tests conducted at Dadeldhura Hospital confirmed 40 people from Doti to have been infected.

Similarly, a person from Kailali has been found infected in a test conducted at Seti Provincial Hospital.

Spokesperson Dr. Gautam said that 4,216 samples were tested through the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method at 27 laboratories across the country.

Meanwhile, 173 COVID-19 patients were discharged from different hospitals and isolation centers.

So far, 11,868 people have been discharged across the country after recovery. The recovery rate in the country now stands at 66.51 percent.

Currently, 5,936 people are undergoing treatment and 22,228 have been quarantined.

Nepal’s COVID-19 death toll stands at 40.