By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Feb. 16: Saurav Luitel of Morang, Sandip Upreti, Sunsari and Avaya Kumar Mandal of Dhanusha landed at the Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) today morning.

They along with other 175 Nepali nationals were evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), by the government of Nepal.

“As soon as we reached the quarantine location at Kharipati, Bhaktapur, we felt like we have won the war,” they said.

The Nepalis residing in Wuhan were critical of the way the government was dillydallying in rescuing them on time. “As soon as we reached the quarantine, we felt very happy,” they said.

“Even though India and Bangladesh rescued their nationals residing in Wuhan a week earlier than Nepal, Nepal has left both the countries behind in terms of preparation,” Luitel said.  

Luitel said that Nepal’s quarantine was much better if compared to quarantines of India and Bangladesh.

In India and Bangladesh, the returnees are kept in tin-shed quarantines while we have been kept in concrete houses with apt environment, Luitel added.

“The environment here is much cleaner and safer,” he said.

The returnees will be kept in the quarantine for 14 days. All the returnees felt free from a huge mental pressure as soon as they reached Kharipati.

After Wuhan blocked all kinds of public services from January 23^rd, we were facing scarcity of all the basic utilities, which is why we called for help from the government of Nepal, Luitel said.

He said that scarcity of drinking water was the major problem in Wuhan after the epidemic out broke.

The returnees were fed egg, grams and bread on Sunday morning. Their body temperature is also being checked regularly. The management has also collected their blood sample.

175 returnees are residing in the quarantine currently.