• Swabs of 294 people who attended funeral to be collected
• Rural municipality ward sealed

JAJARKOT, JUNE 7

Preparations are under way to collect swab samples of 294 persons who attended the funeral ceremony of a 58-year-old man who died of COVID-19, but whose body was handed over to his kin without waiting for test result of his swab samples. He was cremated following his death at Jagadulla Rural Municipality, Dolpa, on June 3, while he was in home quarantine.

Jagadulla Rural Municipality Chair Narakhi Rokaya said health workers had reached the village to collect swab samples of the deceased’s family members, those who attended the funeral ceremony and others who came into contact with the body. “We are preparing to collect swab samples of 294 people,” said Rokaya.

According to Rokaya, a team of health workers from Karnali Academy of Health Sciences has already left for swab collection.

Another team of health workers from Dolpa headquarters Dunai is also preparing to come to the rural municipality.

Ward 3 of Jagadulla Rural Municipality has been sealed off and people have been banned from entering the rural municipality, said Chief Administrative Officer Kesabraj Jaishi of the local level.

Locals fear that the infection might have spread across the village as funeral ceremony attendees were not quarantined.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 8, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.