Kathmandu, July 11: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has confirmed 70 new cases of COVID-19 today.

In the last 24 hours, as many as 70 persons were identified with the virus infection out of 3,648 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests performed in 25 laboratories, informed Dr Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson of the ministry in the daily press briefing today.

The new cases were detected in Jhapa, Siraha, Sunsari, Udayapur, Morang, Dhading, Kathmandu, Nuwakot, Sarlahi, Sindhupalchowk, Chitwan, Sindhuli, Rautahat, Parbat, Syangja, Baglung, Tanahun, Myagdi, Kaski, Palpa, Banke, Bardiya, Dang, Rukum (West), Surkhet, Salyan, Jumla, Achham and Kanchanpur.

Meanwhile, 431 COVID-19 patients receiving treatment at various health facilities nationwide were discharged after recovering from the virus infection in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate now stands at 50.5 per cent.

Currently, there are 8,239 active cases of COVID-19 and 24,097 are in quarantine.

With this, the national COVID-19 tally has reached 16,719 including 8,442 cases of recovery and 38 death cases.