Coronavirus Outbreak: Nepal initiates screening of travelers from China, Japan, Thailand at airports

Nepal has initiated health screenings of passengers flying in from China, Japan, and Thailand - the three nations where several patients have been tested positive for mysterious coronavirus, officials said on Friday.

The decision was taken following a round of meetings between officials from various divisions under the Nepal government's Department of Health Services, Basudev Pandey, the Director at Kathmandu's Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Hospital, told .

This comes after a man was quarantined in Kathmandu with a mystery strain of coronavirus just days after his return from the Chinese city of Wuhan. Pandey had told yesterday that the person has been kept under observation and various tests are being carried out to determine whether he has been infected.

Doctors have warned that the virus responsible for the outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan could also enter Nepal.

The World Health Orgsation has alerted Nepal about the prevention of transmission of the virus. However, the country has lesser proper health centers and laboratories for the treatment and diagnosis of such highly infectious diseases.

"The possibility of infection is high among the Nepali population because of migration. People coming from China and those going to China from Nepal risk contracting and spreading the disease," said Dr Baburam Marasini, former director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division.

"If anyone suffers from such infection then s/he should be transported in such a way so as to prevent the disease from spreading. But we even lack proper ambulance service to transport such patients. They should be transported in double cab ambulance, which we don't have," he was quoted as saying.

( With inputs from ANI )