The Ministry of Health and Population has directed to close night-time businesses and restaurants after 9:00 pm keeping in view the increasing spread of COVID-19 infection.

The Ministry on Wednesday issued a statement urging all district administration offices to take action against those who do not wear masks in public places, in light of the growing number of UK variants and violations of public health standards across Nepal.

Similarly, the Ministry has instructed local authorities to curb human movement in city areas where more than 500 people are infected and in small towns with more than 100 infected.

The Ministry has also urged educational institutions to be on high alert as students and teachers are at high risk of catching the virus amid rising cases.

Dr Sameer Kumar Adhikari, Joint Spokesperson of the Ministry, has requested the public to strictly adhere to the standards of public health in places that are crowded and risky, such as shopping malls, dance halls, cinema halls, party palaces, health clubs, and religious places.

Similarly, the Ministry has requested local authorities to increase antigen testing and contact tracing at places with high risk of infection.

Nepal recorded 298 new cases of coronavirus infection across country, including 163 in Kathmandu valley, on Wednesday.

With this, Nepal’s COVID caseload has reached 278,768, including 273,529 recoveries, 2,201 active cases, and 3,038 deaths.

According to the Health Ministry, 74 people were discharged from health centres across the country in the past 24 hours after recovering from the disease. So far, 98.1 per cent of COVID patients have recovered in Nepal.

The Ministry added that two COVID patients died in the past 24 hours in Nepal, taking the death toll from the respiratory contagion to 3,038.