PM Modi, Nepal's Oli agree to joint efforts in fight against coronavirus

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepali counterpart KP Sharma Oli on Friday held a telephonic conversation and agreed to make joint efforts to tackle the situation arising out of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Taking on Twitter, Modi said, "Spoke today with Prime Minister of Nepal, Shri @kpsharmaoli. We discussed the prevailing situation due to COVID-19. I appreciate the determination of the people of Nepal to fight this challenge. We stand in solidarity with Nepal in our common fight against COVID-19."

Minutes after Indian PM Modi's tweet, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said, "Today I held a telephonic conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji @narendramodi. We both agreed on to make our efforts more contingent in this fight against Coronavirus. We stressed on taking care of the citizens who are stranded inside each-others nation due to the ongoing lockdown."

Both the neighbours, India and Nepal, are in statewide lockdown as the number of COVID-19 positive cases continue to rise.

Nepal has been under complete nationwide lockdown since March 24 whereas India is under lockdown since March 25.

Hundreds of Nepali and Indian citizens are stranded on both sides due to the ongoing lockdown which has been imposed to curb further spread of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday informed that India's total number of COVID-19 positive cases now stands at 6,412. Out of these, 5,709 are active patients and 503 of them have been cured/discharged.

Nepal so far has reported 9 cases of COVID-19.