Kathmandu, February 4
Minister for Health and Population Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal has claimed that the government is fully prepared to evacuate Nepalis currently residing in Wuhan of China, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus infection.
Addressing the House of Representatives meeting on Tuesday, Dhakal said the Cabinet meeting on Monday issued an order as per section 2.3 of the Infectious Disease Act, 1964, according to which the government can quarantine those to return from China for 14 days.
However, the government would not evacuate Nepalis immediately, he said, adding it should first make sure that the infection would not spread.
Earlier, the government had issued a notice to the Nepalis living in Hubei province, urging them to fill up a form at the Nepali Embassy in Beijing if they wanted to be ‘rescued’. Around 180 have filed applications.
Dhakal clarified that the interested Nepalis would undergo a test in China before the evacuation and only those testing the negative would be taken back.
