Worshippers wear face masks burning incense and pray at the Wong Tai Sin Temple to mark the Lunar New Year of the Rat in Hong Kong on January 24, 2020. AFP / Philip Fong
Kathmandu: Health authorities in Nepal on Friday confirmed that a student who returned from Wuhan, China tested positive for the new coronavirus, becoming the first South Asian country to report the deadly disease.
The 32-year-old student arrived in Nepal on January 9, and entered the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Kathmandu four days later after running a fever and reporting trouble breathing, hospital spokesperson Anup Bastola told AFP.
The health ministry confirmed the case in a statement.
"The results of a sample, sent to Hong Kong, have returned positive," Bastola told AFP.
"He was discharged after recovery. We are monitoring the patient and he and his family members are healthy. So are all the health workers in the hospital," Bastola said.
Nepal's health ministry also said in a statement that surveillance has been increased at the airport, "and suspicious patients entering Nepal are being monitored with correct manpower and equipment".
At least 26 people have been killed by the previously unknown SARS-like coronavirus. Cases have been reported in half a dozen countries, including the United States.
