Kathmandu, May 9

Eight persons tested positive for COVID-19 today. The samples tested positive in the polymerase chain reaction method in the National Public Health Laboratory, Teku, and Koshi Hospital.

With this, the national count of coronavirus infection has reached 110. From among those who tested positive four women aged 18, 43, 45 and 65 are from Bhulke, Udayapur. Three are from Kapilvastu and one is from Parsa.

From among the three males, who tested positive in Kapilvastu, two are aged 18 and one is 17.

The person who tested positive in Parsa is a 62-yearold male. The man is a resident of Chhapkaiya, Ward No 3, Birgunj.

Samples of the four females tested positive in Koshi Hospital. The 65-year-old and 18-year-old are grandmother and granddaughter.

“Samples of 237 persons were collected after a number of cases were reported in Bhulke. Four of the 150 samples tested positive. Laboratory tests of other samples are being conducted,” said Dr Sangita Mishra, medical superintendent at Koshi Hospital.

“The samples of women had tested negative in the National Public Health Laboratory earlier. We recollected the samples on May 6. As the samples had tested negative and as two of the women were from the same family and the other two were in close contact with them, we wanted to reconfirm. The samples tested positive in Koshi Hospital,” said Dr Suresh Mehata, chief of Public Health Division, Ministry of Social Development, Province 1. All four women who tested positive are asymptomatic. They have been admitted to Koshi Hospital.

The sample of the 62-year old man was collected on May 7 after tracing the contacts of persons who had tested positive in Parsa. Earlier, a 36-year-old male had tested positive on May 3 in Parsa and later 17 of his family members tested positive on May 6.

The 62-year-old runs a retail shop near the locality where the 18 persons had tested positive. Contact tracing of the man who tested positive today is under way. A total of 27 people, who were in contact with the male, have been traced till now. Their samples have been collected,” said Dr Madan Kumar Upadhyaya, medical superintendent at Narayani Hospital, Birgunj. The person who tested positive is asymptomatic and has been admitted in Narayani Hospital.

Three youths who tested positive for the virus in Kapilvastu are among the 65 persons who were placed in a quarantine centre at Chhatrapali Secondary School in Mayadevi Rural Municipality. Samples of all the 65 persons staying in quarantine were collected on May 5.

“The three teenagers had entered the country on May 1 from India. All three persons tested positive but are asymptomatic. They have been sent to Corona Special Hospital in Butwal,” said Dhirgha Narayan Poudel, chief district officer of Kapilvastu.

Two other youths had tested positive for the virus two days ago. The five of them had come together from India. They had entered Nepal via Bilmi, a border check point in Kapilvastu district.

With the number of cases rising in the country, the government has decided to collect more than 5,320 samples from Udayapur, Rautahat, Parsa, Bara and several districts of Province 5.

“A team has been deployed from Epidemiology and Disease Control Division and Nepali Army for sample collection. The samples will be collected within three days. A total of 400 samples have been collected till now,” said Dr Bikash Devkota, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population.

Meanwhile, a total of 31 persons have been discharged from hospitals after recovery.

Nepal count

Updated COVID-19 figures till Saturday

Confirmed cases           110

Discharged                    31

Total tests (PCR)           16,309

New tests                     817

In quarantine               14,592

In isolation                   143

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 10, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.