NEPALGUNJ, JULY 25

People, who were not quarantined have also started testing positive for COVID-19 in Banke.

With the detection of COVID-19 in people staying at home, it is suspected that COVID might have spread at the community level.

Four persons, two males and two females, tested positive for COVID-19 today in the district. None of them had stayed in a quarantine facility. District Health Office, Banke said two males from Nepalgunj sub-metropolis and two females from Kohalpur Municipality, who were infected with COVID-19, had not stayed in a quarantine facility previously.

Coronavirus resource person and District Health Office, Banke Officer Naresh Shrestha said all those four detected with novel coronavirus had not stayed in the quarantine facility.

District Health Office, Banke had collected swab samples through random sampling and sent them to the laboratory for testing COVID-19. Of those infected with COVID-19, one is a 40-years-old man and another is a youth of 18 years.

The man aged 40 works at an NGO. “The man used to distribute medicines to people with HIV,” said Shrestha.

The youth had arrived in Nepalgunj from his home in Karnali province a few days ago.

The two females infected with COVID-19 are 47 years and 21 years old. They had returned from India and had stayed at home without staying at a quarantine facility.

They had tested positive for the virus after their swabs were collected and sent to the laboratory for test.

Health workers say COVID-19 has spread at the community level. They have suggested that COVID-19 tests be expanded across the community.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 26, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.