Nepal MP jabs government for indecisiveness over quarantine facility

Nepal's Federal Socialist Party MP Pradeep Yadav has hit out at the Nepal government for not having decided a location to set up a quarantine facility for those infected with the Coronavirus. During a Parliament session, Yadav asked the government if the Parliament should be used as a facility.

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MP questions government

"The government has said that the aircraft to evacuate them (Nepali citizens) are kept ready. Then when will they fly-off for China? It's already been 5 days that the Nepal government has been searching on for a place to keep those to-be-evacuated from China. No location has been identified until now. Should we vacate the Parliament building? Let's vacate it (the Parliament building) and keep those returning from China here. Let's move our parliamentary meeting out under the tarpaulins." 

Minister of Health, Bhanubhakta Dhakal replied and said that the party was looking at some options but could not finalise it since the conditions were not met. "Some of those locations are near residential areas and the government believes that places far from the urban settlement would be appropriate," he added.

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The outbreak took place in Wuhan in January and has claimed more than 425 lives. Over 20,000 people with Coronavirus have already been confirmed in the country and the virus has spread to multiple countries across the globe. Multiple countries have started evacuating their citizens from the country, and have decided to restrict the entry of foreigners returning from China. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus as a 'global public health emergency'. 

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Director-General of WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "The vast majority of cases outside China have a travel history to Wuhan or contact with someone with a travel history to Wuhan. We don’t know what sort of damage this 2019nCoV virus could do if it were to spread in a country with a weaker health system. We must act now to help countries prepare for that possibility. For all of these reasons, I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of 2019nCoV."

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(Image credits: AP)