Third Corona infected patients confirmed in Nepal

Newbureau Nepal, 25th March, 2020.

The Public Health Laboratory confirmed the presence of the CoVid-19 in a 32 year old man who had recently returned from the Dubai.

In our country Nepal third CoVid-19 case has been just confirmed in 32-year old man who had recently returned from the Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, according to the Rajesh Kumar Gupta, spokesperson for the National Public Health Laboratory.

The Man, a local of Dhading district, returned to Nepal on March 18 via Air Arabia, which landed at 4:45 pm. He came into the hospital himself after arriving down with high fever,sore throat and cough according to officials.

According to Gupta “Our Laboratory confirmed positive case yesterday night ”. The man is currently in Isolation at the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Diseases Hospital and the laboratory has informed the Ministry of Health about the result.

Health Minister Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal Said that the man had been living in the hotel after returning to Kathmandu. He is not believed to have taken any self quarantine measures.

“The authorities have started the process to trace his contacts from the hotel.” Dhakal told the post.

Meanwhile, doctors at the Sukraraj Hosptial had cordoned off the director’s room on Wednesday after learning of the third confirmed case through the media, warning that they would no longer continue risking their and their family member’s lives if critical information is withheld again.

“We have to treat the patients and deal with their relatives, but they {the hospital administration} are not giving us information,” Dr Sher Bahadur Pun of the hospital told the post. “They also kept us in dark about the second case also. Imagine how risky it is?”

Dr. Sagar Rajbhandari, director of the Sukraraj Hospital said that he too was awaiting official communication from the laboratory informing him of the results.

This is Nepal’s third confirmed case of Corona Virus and the second active case. Earlier, on Sunday, a 19-year-old Nepali Student who had returned from France via Qatar has tested positive for Covid-19. In January, a 31-year-old Nepali student who had returned from Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in China, which is also the epicenter of the corona virus pandemic, has tested positive. The man recovered and was subsequently discharged from the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, the agency responsible to contain the spread of deadly disease throughout the country, said that officials have been deployed for contact tracing to the people come in close contact of the patient, infected with the Covid-19.

“We also trace contact of people who returned to Nepal in the same flight, in which the positive patient came,” Dr Basudev Pandey, director at the Division, told the post. “We will identify them and ask them to stay in strict home quarantine, and if symptoms develop, we will bring them to hospital.”