KATHMANDU: Two Ukrainian nationals who were looking to enter Nepal from India via the Kakarbhitta border were denied entry on being detected with high fever.

The health-desk set at Kakarbhitta conducted primary check-up on the travelers and on finding that they had high-fever, they were asked to return amid growing coronavirus transmission concerns.

Deputy Superintendent of Jhapa District Police Office Mahendra Kumar Shrestha informed that the Indian side said that they had performed all necessary check-ups and has released the Ukrainian nationals on absence of any visible symptoms. "The health-desk at the Nepali side, however, detected fever and halted their entry as a needed precautionary measure."

DSP Shrestha was quick to add that the district authorities have increased vigilance to monitor symptoms of infection in the border areas.

Only today, ten cases of COVID-19 were reported to have been recorded in Uttar Pradesh, a state of India bordering Nepal in the south. While China, the country of origin of the outbreak, has more or less contained the spread of the disease, many other countries are at this stage battling the pandemic.

Nepal, meanwhile, still lacks a cohesive plan to deal with the possible threat, which can overload the health system and cause it to break apart.