Kathmandu, March 15

The government has decided to mobilise three hospitals of Kathmandu Valley to take care of the patients who test positive for coronavirus infection and who show symptoms of the infection.

Minister for Health and Population, Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, informs that Shukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Patan Hospital and Kirtipur Hospital will be dedicated to the needful care of patients related to the global epidemic COVID-19. Likewise, the government will prepare a new building of Bir Hospital also for the same, according to him.

Addressing a National Assembly meeting in Kathmandu on Sunday, the minister said the government would soon add 235 ICU beds to various hospitals of the country. He assured the lawmakers that the government was competent in controlling the infection when it would be confirmed in Nepal, urging the public not to panic about the issue.

Nevertheless, he maintained that the growing number of positive cases in India had increased the risk in Nepal as the two countries share an open border.

So far, Nepal tested 464 persons but all of them tested negative, according to Dhakal. He claimed the government was ready to handle as many as 4,500 cases at once.

Meanwhile, the government has barred chief district officers and concerned health officials from leaving the districts if the infection was reported in their jurisdictions, informed the minister.