NEPALGUNJ, JUNE 3

The COVID-19 spread seems to have come under control in Narainapur Rural Municipality, Banke, which had emerged as a coronavirus hotspot after a number of people tested positive for the virus here earlier.

According to the district’s corona focal person Naresh Shrestha, it was possible to contain the infection due to a number of positive steps taken recently. “We took aggressive measures in time and improved the management of quarantine facilities, which helped us to stave off large scale spread,” Shrestha said.

As per data, of the total 978 India returnees kept in quarantine, 709 have returned home following COVID-19 tests.

There are now 153 persons in five quarantine centres. “As for Narainapur, three of the positive cases have recovered and returned home,” said Shrestha.

“As infected persons are returning home, the same has allayed the fear of the virus spread among locals, while the government's latest ruling to bring in returnees from India through the Jamunaha entry point only now onwards has also given us some respite,” he added.

Narainapur Mayor Ishtiyak Ahamad Shah, who had almost lost hope in the face of a huge spike in cases in a matter of days, said the infection that was appearing to get out of hand had come under control now with a new chief district officer at the helm.

“Most of the folks in quarantine have tested negative and returned home, and even those who were infected have recovered and started returning home. This has boosted the morale of locals,” Shah said.

Chief District Officer Ram Bahadur Kurumbang said the administration had made provisions for PCR testing of all those in quarantine. “For anyone entering the country from India, we’ve made arrangements to safely put them in quarantine. If we manage to do that, we can control the spread,” said the CDO. The total number of COVID-19 infected persons had reached 213 in Banke till yesterday.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 4, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.