Pokhara, July 27

Eighteen police personnel have tested positive for the COVID-19 in Syangja.

Eighteen personnel, including Superintendent of Police Bimalraj Kandel, tested positive for the virus today, said District Health Office Syangja Chief Yam Prasad Sharma.

Two head constables and a constable had tested positive for the virus six days ago.

After that, swab samples of all personnel working at the district police office were collected and sent for PCR test and the office was sealed.

Swab samples of 100 people, including police personnel, were sent to the lab in Pokhara.

Of them, seventeen males and one female tested positive for the virus. Report of 60 people is yet to come.

Infected people, including police personnel, will be kept at Kalika Community Hospital and Quarendanda Isolation, said Sharma. “We shall keep the SP in his quarters if he wants,” Sharma added.

Syangja has recorded 223 COVID cases so far. Of the infected, 188 have recovered and returned home. Two have lost their lives to the virus in the district.

Meanwhile, a doctor tested positive for the novel coronavirus at Pokhara’s Manipal Teaching Hospital. A doctor working at the medical ward tested positive for the virus today, a source said.

The infected doctor had attended a Chinese woman who died in Kathmandu a few days ago. The Chinese woman was operating a restaurant in Pokhara. She was treated at Manipal Teaching Hospital. A large number of doctors were involved in the Chinese woman’s treatment.

After the doctor experienced light fever, his swab was collected and sent to Western Regional Hospital for PCR test yesterday. His report came out positive today.

He is in the Western Regional Hospital isolation ward. He was examining patients until his report came out positive.

It is not clear when the doctor caught the virus and how many patients he had attended.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 28, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.