The government has urged people to exercise caution pointing that COVID-19 is surging in four Indian states bordering Nepal.
Health Ministry Spokesperson Dr Jageshwore Gautam during the daily COVID-19 briefing on Friday urged the people to exercise caution pointing that total infection in India reached 1.60 million and states bordering Nepal including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal are also seeing a surge in cases.
Local governments in Birgunj and Biratnagar have urged the federal government for tougher border controls after surge in infections there. They have warned of explosion in cases pointing that clandestine entry of people entering Nepal from the open border has increased the risks.
Local governments of Birgunj, Biratnagar and Rajbiraj have claimed that infection has spread at the community level with Biratnagar announcing a two-week lockdown effective from Saturday.
Biratnagar Mayor Bhim Parajuli stated that lockdown has been imposed as infection has spread at the community level. "Over 100 persons are infected in Biratnagar alone. A whopping 61 of them have no travel history or known exposure to infected persons. Infection, therefore, has already spread at the community level."
Cases in India have been surging in recent days with a record 55,000 testing positive on Friday to take the total number of infections to 1.643 million. The death toll has also crossed 35,000.
