Kathmandu, April 28

Novel coronavirus cases in Nepal rose to 54 today after two men tested positive for COVID-19 in Rautahat district today.

A 24-year-old man from Bhusaha in Brindaban Municipality and a 35-year-old man from Dewahi Gonahi Municipality tested positive for the disease when their swabs were tested using polymerase chain reaction method in the National Public Health Laboratory, Teku, said Bikash Devkota, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population.

A team from Kathmandu had taken swabs of 83 persons from eight quarantine facilities in the district on April 24 and 25 for testing at the NPHL. Two of them tested positive.

“The 24-year-old had returned from Kolkata in India. After a fortnight under quarantine in a Chandrapur-based facility he returned home,” said Shashi Mohan Das, information officer at District Administration Office, Rautahat. He had tested negative for the virus in a PCR test carried out in Janakpur on April 18.

According to a press statement issued by Rautahat DAO, the 24-year old youth had been living with his family for the past 10 days.

The 35-year-old man, on the other hand, had travelled to Nepal from Delhi. He worked in a factory that manufactured bags in Paharganj, Delhi.

He had also been under quarantine in Dewahi Gonahi. However, before being quarantined the man had visited his in-laws and had lived in their home for a few days.

“We are tracing contacts and travel history of the two men who tested positive today,” said Das.

As there is a possibility of the virus spreading in the families and the localities where the two lived, the DAO has sealed both the wards for mass screening. It has restricted movement of people coming in and going out from the two wards.

“Action will be taken against those who defy restrictions,” reads a statement issued by the DAO.

Both patients have been sent to the isolation ward of Narayani Hospital in Birgunj for treatment.

This is the third case of coronavirus infection in the district. Earlier on April 14, a 19-year-old man from Rautahat had tested positive for novel coronavirus disease.

As many as 386 samples from the district have been tested using PCR method — 323 have tested negative, three have tested positive, while report of 60 samples is awaited. A total of 313 people are under quarantine in the district.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 29, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.