Jhapa, August 10

It is suspected that COVID-19 has spread at the community level in Gauradah Municipality of Jhapa.

With the detection of COVID in five people, including APF personnel today, the risk of COVID spread at the community level has increased in wards 6, 7 and 8 of the municipality.

An all-party meeting held today took the decision to seal three wards from midnight.

The meeting chaired by Mayor Rohit Kumar Shah decided to seal wards 6, 7 and 8 until the report of the people whose swab samples had been sent for the test came out.

Two APF personnel aged 27 and 25 from Ward No 7 of Gauradaha Municipality tested positive for COVID today. Stationed at APF Office, Ilam, they had come home on leave a fortnight ago. Their swab samples were collected and sent for corona test five days later.

All people who came in their contact have been traced and their swab samples will be sent for COVID tests tomorrow, said Health Department Co-coordinator Govind Shrestha.

Three COVID patients had come from third countries and were staying in the quarantine facility.

Gauradah Municipality administrative officer Khem Ojha said that Juropani Health Post and Mahrani Jhoda Heath Post would be prepared for isolating patients. Out of 17 COVID patients in Gauardaha Municipality, 12 have recovered from the illness and returned home.

Meanwhile, Damak Hospital and Research Centre located at Damak Municipality, Jhapa, was closed down today. The hospital was shut after an APF soldier infected with COVID visited the hospital for health check-up, said a hospital source.

The APF man had visited the hospital before his report for COVID-19 came out. His report came out positive yesterday. The hospital’s Executive Director Tejraj Ghimire said that the hospital was shut as a precautionary measure.

The municipality’s Quarantine Management Committee Member Secretary Kuber Bhattarai said that people who came in contact with the APF soldier would be traced and their swab samples would be tested in a few days.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 11, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.