RAJBIRAJ, JANUARY 20

Life has been affected badly due to excessive cold and increasing number of patients suffering from the new variant of COVID-19 in Saptari.

As many as 30 persons tested positive for the deadly virus in the district today. With this, as many as 154 people have been infected in the past nine days. Following the spike in COVID-19 cases, Rajbiraj-based Rastriya Banijya Bank today issued a notice of transaction closure after staffers contracted the virus. According to the notice, all the banking activities have been closed till January 24 as the staffers along with the branch manager tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 16 staffers including the manager, fourteen have been infected with the virus.

As many as seven judges and three staffers in Saptari District Court and Janakpur High Court Rajbiraj Bench were already infected with the contagion.

Similarly, as many as 56 security personnel at Province Police Training Centre, Janakpur (Rajbiraj Contact Office), have also tested positive for COVID-19. Of the 30 infected with the virus today, 16 are from the same ward - Rajbiraj Municipality.

According to the district health office, other infected persons are from different wards of Rajbiraj Municipality, Rupani Rural Municipality, Kanchanrup Municipality, among other municipalities.

The fear of infection has increased due to the crowd of service-seekers in different offices. Similarly, life has been adversely affected due to the cold wave for the past five days. Excessive cold has added to the woes of people scourged by the fear of COVID-19 infection. Locals in rural and urban areas have been sitting around the fire to keep themselves warm to beat the extreme cold.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 21, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.