RAJBIRAJ, JULY 22 Fourteen persons, including 10, who had been contact with a deceased entrepreneur who had died due to the novel coronavirus infection on July 16 tested positive for COVID-19 today in Rajbiraj, Saptari. Swab samples of 14 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the PCR tests conducted at Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital, Rajbiraj, and a Biratnagar-based laboratory. According to District Health Office Saptari, 14 people from wards 2,3,6 and 7 and Agnisair Krishnasabaran Rural Municipality tested positive for the virus. Among people testing positive for the virus is a sanitation worker from Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital. With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases has jumped to 404 in the district. Five family members of the deceased entrepreneur, two employees and two of his neighbours had tested positive for the virus earlier. With the detection of COVID-19 in a large number of people who had come in contact with the deceased entrepreneur and his family members, locals have been terrified. Locals demanded that PCR tests be increased. With the detection of COVID-19 in a sanitation worker of Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital and a health worker of Nutrition Home on the premises of the hospital, Saptari DAO is preparing to sanitise the hospital and seal off the nutrition home. Since the daughter of a COVID-19 infected couple works at Sunrise Bank, the bank has been sealed as well. Report of PCR tests of 251 people is yet to come, said Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital Chief Dr Ranjit Jha. With COVID-19 cases rising, Rajbiraj Municipality has imposed a full lockdown in the municipal area and urged all and sundry to abide by lockdown rules from tomorrow. Issuing a notice today, Mayor Shambhu Prasad Yadav said that his office had clamped the lockdown for an indefinite period after infection cases escalated in the municipality. A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 23, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.