The District COVID-19 Control and Management Committee has put Chitwan in COVID-19 red zone (high risk area) following increasing infection cases, according to the district health office. The district has recorded 828 active infection cases with 190 in the past 24 hours. The active caseload numbers have shot up from 82 on 9 January to 190 on 16 January.

The infection cases on Sunday were from the total 501 COVID-19 tests, according to the health office. At present, the infection rate was 37 percent, said the public health officer Gitanjali Dhakal. Of the active infected, 26 have been admitted to hospitals and 802 are in home-isolation. So far in the district, 26,803 infected people have been free of the deadly virus while the death toll from the infection has hit 437.