• Udayapur linked to 28 of 48 cases in Nepal
• Mass testing in district
• 58 samples collected

Gaighat / Janakpur / Kathmandu, April 23 Three more persons tested positive for COVID-19 today, taking the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the country to 48. According to Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population Bikash Devkota, a 55-year-woman, whose sample was collected from Udayapur district, was among the three people who tested positive for the coronavirus infection. Others who were detected with the coronavirus disease include a 14-year-old male from Sarlahi and a 26-year-old male from Bhojpur. Their samples were tested at National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu using polymerase chain reaction method. The woman from Udayapur used to live near Nuri mosque in Bhulke, Triyuga Municipality, which is linked to 27 other cases of COVID-19 in Nepal. Throat swabs of 58 people were collected today from Chaudandi Municipality’s Siwai, where a group of people who tested positive for COVID-19 stayed in a mosque for five days. According to Triyuga Municipality Mayor Baldev Chaudhary, a provincial health workers’ team led by Social Development Minister Jivan Ghimire collected samples from people of the settlements adjoining Nuri mosque. “Samples have been collected from four settlements in Wards No 1 and 5. Samples of owners of tea stalls and groceries in the settlement have also been taken,” he said. The 14-year-old boy who also tested positive for COVID-19 today is a resident of Harakatawa in Dhanakaul Rural Municipality, Sarlahi. He had tested positive for antibodies during two rapid diagnostic tests conducted in Janakpurdham-based Provincial Hospital on April 19. But he tested negative in the PCR test at the provincial hospital the next day. Though he was discharged from the hospital, he was put in quarantine in Harakatwa. The boy was working in New Delhi and had returned home on April 5 via Parsa and Rautahat, where he had stayed overnight. After locals informed the authorities about his arrival from India, he was placed in quarantine the same evening. His swab was sent to National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu, where it tested positive for COVID-19 today. According to Ram Binaya Sah, in-charge of Provincial Public Health Laboratory at the Provincial Hospital in Janakpur, testing at the lab will stop from tomorrow, as the sample that tested negative there turned out to be positive in Kathmandu. According to Sarlahi police chief Superintendent of Police Bishwomani Pokharel, the boy will be sent to Narayani Corona Hospital in Birgunj. With the latest confirmation of COVID-19 case, the total number of coronavirus cases has reached five in Province 2, including three Indians. A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 24, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.