RAJBIRAJ, SEPTEMBER 4 COVID-19 has been confirmed in six inmates and two policemen providing security at Saptari District Prison in Rajbiraj. The infections were confirmed by their PCR test reports. According to the prison’s Acting Jailor Sanjaya Kumar Ram, they had sent swab samples of the inmates for PCR tests at Gajendra Narayan Singh Hospital after they developed fever and other respiratory complications. Spread of COVID-19 in the crowded prison has raised an alarm. Built for 125 persons, the prison house is currently accommodating as many as 333 inmates, including 15 women. “All the inmates who tested positive for the contagion are males. The prison administration is making preparations to keep them in a separate room,” said jailor Ram. When asked how the infection spread to the prison, the jailor said they had no idea how the inmates contracted the viral infection. “We had placed strict restrictions on visits to the prison by outsiders. We don’t know how the infection spread here,” he said. District Health Office Chief Duniyalal Yadav said preparations to collect swab samples of other inmates were underway. A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 5, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.