April 4: Three more people have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the confirmed cases to nine so far in the country. All three are from Kanchanpur district of Sudurpaschim Province, according to the state-run national news agency RSS.    
Those confirmed to have contracted the virus include a 21-year-old male who recently returned from Mumbai, India; the second is a 41 -year-old male who arrived home recently from Uttarakhand, India, and the third is a 41-year-old woman, RSS reported citing the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Ministry of Health and Population. The woman is the relative of the one who was tested positive earlier in the district.    
Their swab samples were collected some days ago and the tests were conducted on Friday, said director of the division Dr Basudev Pandey. All three are being treated at the Dhanagadhi-based Sudurpaschim Provincial Hospital.    
This is the first locally transmitted case, RSS said. The first COVID-19 case was detected in a student who arrived from Wuhan of China in January and the patient has been already cured. Other infected are receiving treatment under isolation, the ministry said.    

According to the latest update by worldometer, more than 1.1 million people have been infected by coronavirus around the world and the death toll is nearing 60,000.