2nd Cabinet minister in Nepal tests positive for coronavirus

Kathmandu, October 12

Nepal’s education minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel has tested positive for COVID-19 – the second Cabinet minister to have contracted the deadly viral infection, according to media reports.

Pokharel, who was admitted to Patan Hospital on Saturday evening after developing mild fever, tested positive for the virus on Sunday afternoon during a PCR test, MyRepublica reported on Sunday.

His health is stable, according to a member of the minister’s secretariat.

Pokharel is the second minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to have contracted the contagion, which has so far infected over 1,07,750 people and claimed 636 lives in the Himalayan nation.

On Saturday, Nepal’s tourism minister Yogesh Bhattarai announced on social media that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and requested all those who came in his contact to be on alert.

According to a report in The Himalayan Times, both Bhattarai and Pokharel had attended a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday.

Bhattarai had also met India’s Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Friday to discuss ways to promote tourism in both countries.

Kwatra has quarantined himself. However, his health is good and he had not developed any symptoms of infection, Indian Embassy spokesperson Abhisekh Dubey said on Sunday. PTI