Three Indian nationals who had visited Nepal for a religious mass gathering and were residing at a mosque in the southern part of the country had tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.
As per reports, the three persons were staying at the mosque in Birgunj due to the nationwide lockdown imposed by the Nepal government in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus outbreak.
Twenty one men who were staying at the mosque were tested and three among them- a 37-year-old, 44-year-old and 55-year-old- were taken to an isolation ward in a hospital after their results indicated that they might be infected by coronavirus.
After the Hetauda-based Vector Borne Disease Research and Training Center reported that the three Indian nationals tested positive for coronavirus, their samples were sent to Kathmandu-based National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) for confirmation.
The NHPL confirmed that the three Indian nationals have been tested positive for COVID-19.
“All three have been sent to the isolation facility set up at Narayani Provincial Hospital in Birgunj. Contact tracing of people who had come in close contact with them has also started,” Kathmandu Post quoted a health official as saying.
The three Indian nationals had reportedly entered Nepal for a religious mass gathering held in Saptari district in March in which hundreds of people from Nepal and India participated.
With the three fresh cases, the total number of infections in the country has gone up to 12, a local news channel reported.