KATHMANDU: 175 Nepali nationals evacuated from the coronavirus-hit Chinese province of Hubei have been sent to a quarantine facility set up at Kharipati in Bhaktapur district of the Himalayan country.
The Nepalis -- 170 students, 1 employee, 2 visitors, and 2 children -- arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday morning on a chartered flight of National Flag carrier Nepal Airlines.
Several of these evacuees took to social media to express their contentment over their return to their homeland, sharing selfies and tweets from the quarantine facilities, and sharing the updates on Facebook.
"Finally arrived and settled here in Kharipati. The arrangements are much better than we expected. Feelings of coming back home in such adverse conditions are beyond description. Thank you all concerned authorities. #Happy" Saurav Luitel tweeted, attaching a photograph of his passport.
Meanwhile, after the setting up of quarantine facility in Kharipati, several residents of the region have temporarily left for the cities owing to fears of getting infected.
"People have left the place fearing they also might be infected with the virus. Those like me who don't have relatives and place to live in the core areas are left here. We had raised the voice against it but there no one is hearing and media also couldn't raise the issue for us," a resident said.
Locals of the Kharipati had previously protested against the government's plan to set the quarantine facility in a government-owned building (Training Facility of NepalElectricity Authority) located in a residential area.
The Nepal government has made provisions for psychological counselling for those inside the quarantine facility and has issued a notice requesting all to abide by the rules and regulations during the stay.
All 175 Nepalis evacuated from different regions of Hubei will be kept in the quarantine facility for a period of 14 days.
Coronavirus first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has since then killed more than 1600 people in that country alone, while cases have been registered in several countries across the world, including Nepal and India.