Kathmandu May 14

-Almost all of the people found infected with coronavirus are India-returnees who had entered Nepal illegally through the border transit point in Kapilbastu district. Twenty nine out of 30 people testing positive to COVID-19 in the district are India-returnees. Among them, a woman is a health worker at Kapilbastu municipality. The males who tested positive on Wednesday had also sneaked into Nepal. They had come from Maharashtra of India.

A person who tested positive to COVID-19 on Wednesday is a 22-year-old male resident of Kapilbastu-4, police said. With this the number of infected people in Kapilbastu municipality has reached to nine. Nasal swab samples were collected from 103 people who had been kept in quarantine at the municipality and sent for tests. These people had sneaked into Nepal through various clandestine routes on May 9 having come from various cities of India.

Among these, nine people have tested positive to the deadly virus. Municipality health coordinator, Umesh Gupta said all these were asymptomatic cases and their health is normal. It is said about 3,400 people have crossed the border into Kapilbastu district through various illegal routes in the last three days since Wednesday. The trend of people sneaking into the district through more than half a dozen border transit points has increased at present as India has relaxed the lockdown to some extent.

A report released by the District Administration Office on May 10 stated that there were 1,379 people in quarantines in the district. This number had increased to 4,788 as of Tuesday. Chief District Officer Dirgha Narayan Poudel said it has become challenge managing the quarantine after the quarantine facilities have been overwhelmed with India-returnees. Locals say people returning from India cross the border into Nepal after reaching the border by walking or on vehicles likes trucks and tractors from various places of India.