Nepal Confirms Its 1st Coronavirus Death

Nepal's health authorities confirmed the country's first coronavirus death on Saturday.

The 29-year-old woman died while being taken to a hospital on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population said in a statement.

She was a resident of Sindhupalchwok, a district in the central region of the country.

"A detailed investigation and a series of tests confirmed that this is the first death due to COVID-19 in the country," the ministry said, reports Xinhua.

The woman who gave birth to a child on 6 May at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital was discharged on 7 May. After returning home, she had a fever and respiratory problem and was treated in a local hospital.

"After her situation (got) complicated, she was being brought to Dhulikhel hospital on May 14 but she died on the way," Sameer Kumar Adhikari, joint spokesperson at the ministry told Xinhua.

"After the death, she was tested for COVID-19 at the Dhulikhel hospital and the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu and the results showed she was suffering from COVID-19."

The local government is closing down her village and performing a contact tracking.

Sushila Pakhrin, Deputy Mayor of Barhabise Municipality, told Xinhua that the family members of the woman, including her child, had been put in quarantine at Dhulikhel Hospital.

According to the Ministry, Nepal has  281 confirmed cases so far.

Source: UNB