Coronavirus: Two more cases suspected in Nepal

Following the confirmation of the coronavirus case in Nepal, officials have said that two more people were suspected to have been infected with the virus, that has so far claimed the lives of 56 people in China, the epicentre of the outbreak.

"Both of them have been kept in isolation at Teku hospital," The Kathmandu Post quoted Mahendra Prasad Shrestha, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, as saying on Saturday, adding that the man and woman had returned from China.

The man, said to be in his late 20s, had returned from Shanghai on January 19.

He had gone to Pokhara the following day but returned to visit the Dhapasi-based Grande International Hospital on January 21 for respiratory problems.

Doctors at the hospital then referred him to Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku two days ago, according to an official.

The official said the woman, who had visited a private hospital in Kathmandu, also has been brought to the Teku hospital.

"Health condition of both the patients is stable," Shrestha told The Kathmandu Post.

"They are under observation in isolation. Doctors are trying to ascertain if they have indeed been infected with the deadly virus."

Preparations are underway to send specimens like throat swabs and blood samples collected from both patients to the World Health Organization's (WHO) collaborating centre in Hong Kong to confirm if they have been infected with the new strain of coronavirus.

Earlier, throat swab and blood samples of a 31-year-old Nepali student, who had returned from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and where the outbreak has originated, were also sent to the WHO laboratory in Hong Kong, which on Friday confirmed that he was infected with the virus.

The disease has already spread to a dozen other countries with Canada confirming its first case on Saturday after a patient in Ontario tested positive. The man is said to have travelled from China recently.

Five cases have been reported in Thailand, Five in Hong Kong, four in Australia, three each in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and France and two each in Japan, South Korea, the US, Vietnam and Macao.

( With inputs from IANS )