Eighteen Nepali Muslims, who recently returned from India after participating in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin area in New Delhi, have been identified and kept in a quarantine facility in southern Nepal’s Saptari district, authorities said on Wednesday.
Also read | Tablighi Jamaat and COVID-19: The story so far
Famed for the shrine of the 14h century Sufi mystic Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya, the Nizamuddin area of New Delhi has emerged as an epicentre for the spread of coronavirus in different parts of India after thousands of people took part in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation from March 1-15.
Listen |Tablighi Jamaat, definition of hotspots and debate around masks | The Hindu In Focus Podcast
Indian authorities have launched a nationwide search for participants of the huge religious gathering amid fears that thousands present there could have carried the infection to the length and breadth of the country.
Various nationals, particularly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan come for Tabligh activities in Delhi.
Data | The Nizamuddin cluster and the coronavirus spread
Nepali authorities on Wednesday said that 18 local Muslims, who recently returned from the Indian capital after participating in the religious gathering, have been quarantined in Saptari district in Southern Nepal. According to spokesperson of Kanchanpur municipality, Raj Kumar Shah, the India-returnees have been quarantined at a newly-constructed building of Lakshmi Naryan Secondary School.
400 Indians stranded in Nepal
Meanwhile, around 400 Indian nationals, who gathered from different parts of Nepal to return to India, have been stranded in Birgunj area in Parsa due to the closure of the India-Nepal border.
According to Parsa’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Ganga Panta, the huge mass of Indian citizens heading towards India via border in Parsa have been kept in an education faculty building.
COVID-19 | Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India
They returned to Birgunj Tuesday morning after finding that the border was closed in the Indian side. They were provided meal by Nepal Police on Wednesday morning and necessary arrangements were being made for their temporary stay.
Meanwhile, two Indian men who travelled to Gaur of Rautahat district from Kathmandu riding on bicycles crossing a distance of more than 200 km during the lockdown reached Sitamarhi border only to find that the border was closed.
Raj Kishore Sah and Sanjaya Sah, permanent residents of Betauna in Motihari district in Bihar, left Kathmandu on Sunday and reached Gaur on Wednesday, a town in Rautahat bordering Sitamarhi of Bihar.
They used to work as fruit vendors in Kathmandu.
They have managed to stay in the Nepalese side of the border for the time being.
Nepal authorities on Wednesday detained 1,158 people, including 168 women, who defied the nation-wide lockdown in Kathmandu.
Out of 993 samples so far tested in the government hospitals for coronavirus, only five are found to be positive. Over 80 people have been kept in isolation in different hospitals across the country.
