Nepal confirms first case of new coronavirus infection

Kathmandu: A Nepali student studying in China has been found infected with the new coronavirus, an official of Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population has said.

"It is the first confirmed case of infection from the deadly virus," Dr. Hemanta Chandra Ojha, chief of Zoonotic and Other Communicable Disease Control Section at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Ministry, told the Xinhua news agency on Friday.

He said that the patient who had come to Nepal from Wuhan, China was tested positive during a specimen test at the laboratory of the World Health Organization in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. "We had received the confirmation on Thursday evening," he said.

The man infected with the virus had come to Nepal on January 5 from China and visited the hospital complaining about respiratory problem on January 13. After his condition was improved following medication, he was discharged last week.

(IANS)