Kathmandu, Aug. 4 -- Prime Minister K P Oli held a meeting with 20 public health experts on Tuesday to discuss steps to deal with COVID-19, especially incities bordering India- a sign that his government is taking a recent surge in cases seriously.

The meeting came as Nepal reported 259 new cases on Tuesday, taking the total number so far to 21,009 and the number of fatalities up by one to 58. Kathmandu Valley detected 62 new cases and now has 727 confirmed cases (481 active) with 5 deaths.

The government this week put six districts with over 200 cases (Kathmandu, Rautahat, Kailali, Mahottari, Parsa and Doti) in the Red Zone. (see map) In Kathmandu, 72 staff at Nepal Police Headquarters have tested positive and the premises are sealed o...