The United States has asked its citizens not to travel to Nepal amid exploding COVID-19 crisis in the Himalayan country. Nepal has almost touched 10,000 daily counts, reported The Kathmandu Post.  

The US embassy in Kathmandu issued an advisory, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for Nepal due to COVID-19, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country.” Earlier, it had issued the Level-3 advisory.

Earlier this week, the US Department of State has allowed its diplomats and their families to leave the country if they wanted.

The health system in the country is on the verge of collapse and the crisis is becoming similar to the one India is facing. Hospitals in the country are facing bed and oxygen shortages. 

The situation is so dire that its acting Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, hours after losing the confidence motion in parliament, wrote an opinion piece in The Guardian, and pleaded for international assistance.

“Our sherpas are known for sharing their oxygen with struggling climbers in high altitude. Today, the COVID-19 is leaving our country breathless. So we are looking for the ‘sherpas’ of the international community,” Oli wrote in The Guardian, making an empathic appeal for assistance.