Kathmandu, Aug 31 (PTI) Nepal's coronavirus tally reached close to 40,000 on Monday with 899 new COVID-19 cases recorded across the country, a senior health official has said.

The country has recorded at least seven coronavirus-linked deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 228, said Dr Jageshwar Gautam, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population. He said four men, two elderly women and one four-year-old girl child died due to coronavirus infection.

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During a regular media briefing, the official said that 899 persons had tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Of the newly-infected, 596 are males and 303 are females.

"With this figure, the number of people to be infected with COVID-19 has soared to 39,460," Gautam said.

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The Kathmandu Valley alone recorded 298 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, he said.

Nepal's coronavirus infection cases have doubled in one month. On July 31, a total of 19,771 COVID-19 infections were detected in Nepal.

In total, 588 persons, who earlier tested positive for the virus, have been discharged from various isolation centers across the country after full recovery in the past 24 hours, the official said.

"With this, the country's COVID-19 recovery tally stands at 21,410," he said.

Nepal has so far conducted 6933,472 coronavirus tests.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)