Province 5 places ‘high alert’ measures after 17 cases reported in two days

RUPENDAHI, May 4: Province 5 government has placed high alert measures after the state reported 17 cases coronavirus in two days.

A man from Rupandehi, who had been working at a tailor shop at Gandhinagar in India, is said to have transmitted the virus to others. The tailor worker had returned on April 7 from India.

He entered Nepali territories unhindered but was quarantined immediately after his arrival. After he was tested positive, he has been kept in isolation in Butwal.

A meeting of the security committees of all the districts of the State decided to step up security and alertness measures at the transit points with India following the confirmation of the coronavirus infection, said the State police office’s spokesperson Nawaraj Pokharel.

“The State’s borders sharing India have been sealed off completely,” he said.

The confirmation of more than two dozen cases on Saturday and Sunday alone has left the local residents in the area including Marchawar and Butwal terrified.

“We cannot be sure that others cannot enter Nepal easily through transits with India. We at the borders are terrified,” said a local Ghana Shyam Gupta of Lumbini-10.

Another infected woman, 25, of Kothimai in Rupandehi is receiving treatment at Butwal-based corona hospital.

Likewise, an all-party meeting decided to close Nepalgunj-1 following the confirmation of 16 cases, said ward chair Pramod Rijal.

Mayor of Nepalgunj Sub Metropolitan City Dr. Dhawal Shamsher Rana and ward chair of Nepalgunj-9 Bishnu Bahadur Lama asked local people to take cautions and stay home at this tough situation.

Of 90 tested for the virus at Bheri Hospital Nepalgunj on Saturday, 15 are confirmed to have been contracted with the virus. The tests were conducted after a 60-year-old man was tested positive for the virus on Friday.

The infected were in contact with the man. The infected man had been staying at a mosque in the area.  Swabs of four suspected people have been collected on Sunday and the results are awaited.

Fifteen infected people on Sunday have been admitted to a corona hospital, Khajura. RSS