February 7, Kathmandu: The world is currently struggling with the existence of Corona Virus and we Nepalese are least bothered. I mean to say the government seems to be pretty relaxed about how to mitigate the issue and there are no preventive measure and strategy setup in countering the epidermic which has already crippled the world’s most powerful country.

The outbreak of the corona virus till now is estimated to have crossed a death toll of 600 people. The epidermic which started in the Wuhan city has now affected at least 20 countries and approximately 32,000 cases has already been reported in China.

A confirmed case was diagnosed from a Nepali student who traveled to Nepal from Wuhan, China, other than this there has not been any other case till now. The 31 years old man, who is doing his PhD in Wuhan, returned on January 5 for a short travel. After complaining respiratory problems, he was admitted to the hospital and on January 13, he was given medication and was discharged five days later. The hospital had send his specimens to the WHO’s Collaborating Centre in Hong Kong which came out positive for Corona Virus. After the man left on January 17, there is no information as to where the man had gone and his activities

Present situation

  1. There is shortage of surgical face mask, where alot of which is being bought by the Chinese travelers
  2. Limited awareness campaign about the corona virus
  3. No infrastructure setup for quarantine
  4. Thermal cameras set up at airport for arrivals only

Unlike SARS and MERS, this virus has an incubation period of up to 14 days and asymptomatic infected individuals can transmit the disease to others during that time. Even infected individuals who show improvement can continue to transmit the virus.