BAJURA, JUNE 17 Some 62 persons, who stayed in quarantine at Dhuralsain Secondary School of Budhiganga Municipality, Bajura, returned home before their test results were out. After a two-year-old minor’s death in quarantine, swab samples were collected from all 187 people who had stayed in the same quarantine on June 1. Eleven days after the swabs were collected, test reports of 124 persons had come out, with 17 persons diagnosed positive. But, according to locals, 62 other persons, whose test reports are pending, have been sent home. Besides, all those persons who tested negative have also gone home without second test. This has created panic among locals. “It was gross negligence on the part of the government to release people who had stayed together with COVID-19 infected persons, before the reports came out. As they’re moving freely in the village, the risk has increased all the more,” said a local Laxman Thapa. According to Budhiganga Mayor Dip Bikram Shah, the 60- plus people were sent home as they didn’t show any symptom and agreed to stay in quarantine at home. “We tried to keep them in the government quarantine itself, but they insisted on going home, we had to send them home on condition that they would stay in home-quarantine and wouldn’t move about in the village,” said Shah. Chief District Officer Krishna Gaire said he knew that people were sent home from the government shelter, and added, “But if they are not staying at home and are roaming in the village, they can put others at risk.” As per an official data, the district now has 18 COVID-19 positive cases and 835 RDT-positive cases. They are all now staying in various quarantine shelters. A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.