KATHMANDU, April 4: Nepal has witnessed its first locally transmitted case of novel coronavirus on Saturday, more than two months after the country reported its first COVID-19 case on January 24.
The Ministry for Health and Population (MoHP) said that a woman – with no recent travel history to foreign country – has been tested positive for the coronavirus, making it the first locally transmitted case in Nepal. According to the ministry, the swab report of the 34-year-old lady from Kailali has been tested positive at the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu.
Nepal in second stage of COVID-19 transmission
The woman is a relative of the fourth patient, who had returned to Nepal from the United Arab Emirates.
With this, Nepal has eight active cases of coronavirus in Nepal. On Saturday, ministry confirmed that two other individuals have been tested positive for the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, doctors warned of coronavirus outbreak after the first locally transmitted case detected. “Until today, the virus was not transmitted from person to person. Now, the government needs to focus on contact tracing of the infected persons – relatives, friends, among others – before it is too late,” Dr Sher Bahadur Pun of Teku Hospital told Republica Online, adding that it will be challenging to control if the deadly virus is transmitted from community to community.
“However, we [people] should not panic at all. As per the request from the government, people should not come out of their homes to prevent the outbreak of the disease. Following lockdown orders issued by the government is a must to control the outbreak,” he added. Likewise, another doctor at Teku hospital, also said that local transmission is a warning, but people should not panic at this time of global pandemic.
