Three more attendees of Delhi’s Markaz event test positive for COVID-19 as Nepal cases reach 57

KATHMANDU, April 29: Three more persons were tested positive on Wednesday taking Nepal’s total coronavirus cases surged to 57.

According to Health and Population Ministry Spokesperson Bikas Devkota, a 43-year-old male from Jitpur Simara municipality, a 31-year-old from Simraungadh municipality of Bara district and a 46-year-old male from Birgunj-2 of Parsa district were tested positive at the National Public Health Laboratory in Teku.

“They are receiving treatment at the Narayani Hospital in Birgunj,” he added. Two other youths from Rautahat districts who were confirmed positive on Tuesday are also receiving treatment in the same hospital.

All three were the participants of Tablighi Jamaat Congregation held from March 1-15 in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz Mosque.

Nearly half of the Nepal’s total cases are linked with the Markaz event. Since the three Indian Muslim attendees of the event staying in a mosque in Triyuga municipality of Udayapur were found to have contracted the virus on April 11, more than 15 cases linked with the congregation have been confirmed.

14 new cases were confirmed on a single day on April 17. Of them, 12 were Indian nationals staying in Udayapur and had attended the Muslim event.

On Sunday, a patient from Birjung was also found to have attended the event.

Of the total infected, 16 have recovered and sent to home so far.