Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra has gone into self-quarantine after a Nepalese minister who he had recently met has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Kwatra held a meeting Yogesh Bhattarai, Nepal's Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, who tested positive on Saturday, becoming the first cabinet minister to contract the disease.

After developing a fever on Friday evening, the Minister got himself tested on Saturday morning and was found to be infected.

A photo released by Bhattarai's secretariat shows that both him and Kwatra were not wearing masks during the meeting, which further exposed the risk to the Indian envoy who also did not maintain distancing.

Sources in the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu have said that Kwatra is in quarantine since the news of Bhattarai's diagnosis came to light on Saturday evening.

Kwatra, however, has not developed any symptom of the infection and will undergo a Covid-19 test most likely on Monday, the sources added.

So far, Nepal has recorded a total of 105,684 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 614 deaths.

(IANS)