Nepal's president dissolved parliament on Sunday at the request of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli's cabinet and announced that general elections would be held in April and May, more than a year ahead of schedule.

Nepal will provide free Covid-19 tests and treatment, an aide to the prime minister said on Tuesday, as the total number of infections was set to cross the 200,000 mark.

Three advisers to Nepal's Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli said on Saturday they had tested positive for Covid-19, which has claimed the lives of 528 people in the country.

Nepal is seeking closer ties and much-needed energy and infrastructure investment from China.

Oli praised China's economic support for Nepal, one of the region's poorest countries and sandwiched between the two Asian giants.

Nepal's Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli on Wednesday vowed to rebuild speed up reconstruction efforts during an event to mark the third anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed 9,000 people.

KP Sharma Oli, who came to power after elections in February, is leading a 45-member delegation to New Delhi, which has traditionally been the first international stop for Nepal's prime ministers.

Yubaraj Khatiwada, who had served as governor of the central bank, Nepal Rastra Bank, is a monetary policy expert and an alumnus of the Delhi School of Economics in neighbouring India.

Leaders of the two Nepalese communist parties that formed an electoral alliance and won the largest number of seats in parliamentary polls last year have agreed to merge their parties, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Two more parties abandoned Nepal's ruling coalition ahead of a no-confidence vote later Sunday against prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli that he appears likely to lose.