india could share a disease surveillance software with saarc partners, and hinted at the possibility of conducting coordinated research on controlling epidemic diseases in the saarc region. controversies teku hospital discharged two suspected patients in the morning of 27 january without waiting for test results even though the results were due later that same day, raising concerns over its handling of the crisis. the health ministry said it would start using police to guard suspected patients after a saudi national admitted to teku hospital fled from isolation in mid-february. although 180 nepalis had applied for immediate evacuation from china by 2 february, the effort took almost two weeks, as the government struggled to meet who's evacuation standards, and to find a suitable venue for quarantine. the government was criticised for its slow response; a public interest litigation was filed at the supreme court, while the locals around the designated quarantine site in bhaktapur protested the government's decision which they viewed as endangering to the local community. while giving a speech in parliament on tuesday, the prime minister of nepal k.p oli quoted that "the covid-19 coming from india is more lethal than those from china and italy". during the 2021 mount everest climbing season, the nepalese government did not officially acknowledge any cases of covid on everest, despite climbers testing positive and noting a lack of mitigation measures to prevent outbreaks in the south base camp, prompting concerns about a cover-up of the true scale of the problem. impact the tourism sector has been reported to be suffering due to the absence of chinese tourists, as well as the various travel restrictions imposed on travel globally. manufacturing sector is experiencing a shortage of raw materials, most of which used to come from china. the situation is exacerbated by spread of the pandemic to the middle-east which is the main source of remittance that makes up more than half of nepal's gdp. remittances were expected to sharply drop after nepal suspended issuance of workers permit to nepalis for all countries. the wholesale and retail sector has also been affected due to fall of imports from china. the construction sector which imports most of its building materials from china has slowed down. as the chinese contractors and workers who went home for the chinese new year could not return, the public construction projects have also been affected. the domestic airlines were reported to be struggling for survival as ticket prices dropped to half or a third of normal following a sharp decline in demand. number of international flights to and from nepal had decreased by more than 50% by 13 march. as emigration for foreign employment came to a halt, airlines were forced to suspended flights to several labour destinations. nepal's import-dependent economy is also vulnerable to depreciation of indian currency to which its currency is permanently pegged, as indian economy suffers the impact of the pandemic. 20,000 tour, trek and mountaineering guides lost their livelihood when mountaineering was suspended. the annual holi celebrations, which fell on 9 and 10 march in 2020 saw decreased activities, low business and cancellation of organised celebrations. nepal had declared 2020 as the visit nepal year and aimed to bring in two million foreign tourists, almost double the figure from previous year. as the pandemic spread and nepal had to suspend air travel to and from china, the biggest source of international tourists arriving by air, nepal suspended its promotional campaigns. the temporary blanket ban on animal markets imposed by china as a response to the pandemic is expected to curb wildlife poaching and trafficking through nepal, as the chinese traditional medicine which uses various body parts of endangered animals as its ingredients has been the biggest challenge to wildlife conservation in the region. social life in the beginning of march, the government urged the general public to avoid large gatherings. on 18 march, the government shut down all cinema halls, gymnasiums, museums and cultural centres, and banned gatherings of more than 25 people in public spaces including at places of worship. law enforcement in march, the metropolitan traffic police division suspended breathalyser tests as well as educational classes for drivers found breaking traffic rules. nepal police established coronavirus response units in all its stations and decided not to make arrests for minor offences. in march, the office of the attorney general asked the police to release people held for minor crimes under bail or parole to reduce crowding. foreign employment in late february, nepal suspended labour migration to south korea. on 8 march, qatar imposed a temporary ban on arrivals from nepal and other countries, affecting almost 40,000 labour migrants with valid work permits who were yet to leave. in mid-march, labour permits for all countries were suspended indefinitely, including to workers who were back home on holiday. the government also suspended issuance of no objection letters to students going for abroad study. shortages and black marketing by the first week of february, nepal reported a shortage of face masks, as people hurried to buy them. districts bordering india began setting up health desks at border crossings. the government was forced to seek help from the un, having failed to procure masks and protective gear due to global shortages. in early march, due to a severe shortage of face-masks and protective gear as well as increase in price following a ban on export in china and india, some hospitals were reported to be sewing plain clothes masks as a precaution. a shortage of hand sanitisers was also reported. the department of commerce, supplies and consumer protection conducted raids on 161 firms and fined 57 of them, a total of around four million rupees in the month of falgun (february–march). it inspected multiple pharmacies and surgical shops in kathmandu on 5 march and fined a total of rs 430,000 for hiking prices and other offences. on 10 march, four pharmacies were fined a total of rs 800,000 after they were caught charging 1000% of normal price for surgical masks. some groceries and lpg stores were also inspected. one million units of face masks were confiscated from a warehouse in kathmandu and the owner arrested on 18 march, bringing the total of masks confiscated in the week past to 2.3 million. around 50,000 units of hand-sanitisers were also confiscated from the black market. around two dozen black marketeers had been arrested. as the outflux of people from kathmandu intensified, 23 transport entrepreneurs and workers were arrested on 20 march for overcharging the passengers. essential drugs nepal's pharmaceutical industry has been impacted due to lack of raw materials as a number of essential ingredients were previously imported from hubei. nepal faced the prospect of a potential shortage of essential medicines when india imposed restrictions on export of 26 types of raw materials including of essential medicine citing disruption in the supply chain from hubei; however india later agreed to relax restrictions in case of nepal, and asked the nepalese government to provide a list of names and quantities of essential medicines that it needed to supply to nepal. misinformation on 21 march a 20-year-old man was arrested on charges of spreading misinformation online through an unregistered fake news website and causing public fear, after audio tapes alleging cover-up of covid-19 cases were found circulating online. the same day, nepal army dispelled rumours circulating in social media that claimed army helicopters were being used to spray disinfectants over settlements at midnight. poaching poachers in nepal took advantage of slack monitoring and sparse public movement during the covid-19 lockdown and the country saw a surge in killings of wildlife under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. in the first ten days of the countrywide lockdown, three critically endangered gharial were killed within the vicinity of chitwan national park, while an endangered asiatic elephant was found electrocuted in the bardiya national park. on 27 march 2020, gunfire was exchanged between about 10–11 poachers and the park rangers assisted by the military at the parsa national park. a 37-year-old poacher died, a nepali army officer was injured and a 45-year-old man end up being arrested after the shooting. in late april, six himalayan musk deer (moschus leucogaster), which are listed as endangered by iucn, were found dead inside the sagarmatha national park. about 54 wire traps were put up by the poachers near namche bazaar and one of them even snared a golden eagle. nine people were arrested by solukhumbu district police in connection to the musk deer killings. sagarmartha national park also encountered the illegal cuttings of laligurans (rhododendron arboreum), the national flower of nepal. event cancellations the sagarmatha sambad programme scheduled for april was also postponed. everest premier league, the domestic t20 cricket tournament was postponed indefinitely. statistics daily new confirmed cases distributions distribution of total confirmed cases by age group distribution of total confirmed cases by sex distribution of total recoveries by age group distribution of total recoveries by sex distribution of total confirmed cases, recoveries, and deaths by province distribution of total real-time rt-qpcr tests by province number of individuals in isolation and quarantine by province data the table below documents the daily growth and change of laboratory-confirmed covid-19 cases, deaths, and recoveries and real-time rt-qpcr tests in nepal, since the first confirmed case on 23 january 2020: date confirmed cases recoveries deaths rt-pcr tests tpr rr cfr ref. total new active total new total new total new 23 jan 1 +1 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0% 24 jan 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0% 25 jan 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0% 26 jan 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0% 27 jan 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0% 28 jan 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 33.33% 0% 0% 29 jan 1 0 0 1 +1 0 0 4 +1 25% 100% 0% 30 jan 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 +1 20% 100% 0% 31 jan 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 20% 100% 0% 1 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 100% 0% 2 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 20% 100% 0% 3 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 100% 0% 4 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 14 7.14% 100% 0% 5 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 14 0 7.14% 100% 0% 6 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 18 +4 5.56% 100% 0% 7 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 18 0 5.56% 100% 0% 8 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 100% 0% 9 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 18 5.56% 100% 0% 10 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 18 0 5.56% 100% 0% 11 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 18 0 5.56% 100% 0% 12 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 20 +2 5.00% 100% 0% 13 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 24 +4 4.17% 100% 0% 14 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 24 0 4.17% 100% 0% 15 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 100% 0% 16 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 34 2.94% 100% 0% 17 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 34 0 2.94% 100% 0% 18 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 35 +1 2.86% 100% 0% 19 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 210 +175 0.48% 100% 0% 20 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 212 +2 0.47% 100% 0% 21 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 100% 0% 22 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 100% 0% 23 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 216 0.46% 100% 0% 24 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 217 +1 0.46% 100% 0% 25 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 217 0 0.46% 100% 0% 26 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 221 +4 0.45% 100% 0% 27 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 221 0 0.45% 100% 0% 28 feb 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 224 +3 0.45% 100%