Narainapur in Banke sealed off for indefinite period

KATHMANDU: A meeting of the District Security Committee on Monday declared Narainapur as a high risk zone and decided to totally seal off the area until further notice, assistant chief district officer Dirgha Raj Upadhyay said.

Narainapur, which lies beyond the Rapti river about 35 kilometres towards south east from Nepalgunj city, is adjoined with India. It is divided into six wards. Rapti Sonari rural municipality lies to its north east.

The assistant chief district officer said, movement of people and vehicles to and from Narainapur has been completely prohibited except for emergencies, in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus. According to him, a large number of security personnel have been mobilised in the area.

COVID-19 has been detected in 68 people in the rural municipality, including the 59 cases identified at Narainapur on Monday.

Banke District Health Office's corona focal person Naresh Shrestha said the throat and nasal swabs were collected from 263 people, of which, 59 persons tested positive on Monday while the test results of 110 persons is still awaited.

With this, the total number of novel coronavirus infection cases in the district has reached 93.