DHANGADHI, SEPTEMBER 12 Badikedar Rural Municipality was declared a coronavirus free rural municipality in Doti today. It is the first rural municipality to be declared COVID free in the district. No COVID case has been seen in the rural municipality for the last three months. As many as 13 Indian returnees had tested positive for COVID through RDT test, three months ago. Chairman Krishna Bahadur Chanda of the rural municipality said that the infection was seen in them after 14 days of isolation since they returned from India. “We have been taking safety measures to avoid possible virus spread even if the rural municipality has been declared virus free,” he added. Chanda said the virus case has been increasing in neighboring rural municipalities. “But we have taken preventive and precautionary measures in view of the rising cases in the neighbouring rural municipalities,” he said. Chanda said the movement of people had been tightened. Officer Bibek Deuba at the RM said the locals were banned from going from one village to another, selling and buying cattle and venturing out of their houses except in emergency situations. He added that all entry points to the RM were also closed. Deuba said ambulances and vehicles carrying food supplies, medicines, health workers and security personnel were plying on the roads. Gathering, assembly, conferences, symposium, religious and cultural fairs have also been banned in the rural municipality. District Corona Crisis Management Center, Doti, has extended prohibitory order till September 13. A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 13, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.