Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first reported in late 2019 from Wuhan, China. Considering COVID-19's alarming levels of spread and severity, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The first case of COVID-19 in Nepal was reported on January 23, 2020. The Government of Nepal implemented different public health measures to contain COVID-19, including border closures and a countrywide lockdown. We collected the daily data provided by the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) of the Government of Nepal and illustrated the early epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in Nepal. By May 31, 2020, 1,572 cases and eight deaths were reported in Nepal associated with COVID-19. The estimate of prevalence for COVID-19 among tested populations was 2.25% (95% CI: 2.15–2.37%) and case-fatality rate was 0.5%. The majority of the cases were young males (n = 1,454, 92%), with overall average age being 30.5 years (ranging from 2 months to 81 years) and were mostly asymptomatic. There were only five cases from three districts until the end of March, but cases surged from April and spread to 57 out of 77 districts of Nepal by the end of May 2020 despite the continuous lockdown. Most of these cases are from the southern plains of Nepal, bordering India. As the effect of COVID-19 is expected to persist longer, the Government of Nepal should make appropriate strategies for loosening lockdowns in a phase-wise manner while maintaining social distancing and personal hygiene and increasing its testing, tracking, and medical capacity.
Highlights
Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses with a comparatively larger genome size (30 Kb), belonging to the order Nidovirales, family Coronaviridae, and subfamily Coronavirinae [1]
The number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Nepal reached 1,572 by May 31, 2020, after it was first confirmed in the country on January 23, 2020
69,587 samples were tested using RTPCR in 20 laboratories distributed across the country, with the majority of the tests being conducted at the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) based in the capital city, Kathmandu (Figure 2)
Summary
Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses with a comparatively larger genome size (30 Kb), belonging to the order Nidovirales, family Coronaviridae, and subfamily Coronavirinae [1]. The subfamily is further divided into four genera: alpha, beta, gamma, and delta coronaviruses. Those infecting mammals fall within alpha and beta CoVs [2]. When contracted by farm animals, CoVs are known to cause severe economic losses for a considerable time. Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus (TGEV) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) in pigs, and Bovine Coronaviruses (BCoVs) in cattle are a few such examples [3, 4]
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