Police have detained 18 people in connection with the murder of a 12-year-old boy.

The deceased was taken in custody 25 days ago on a murder charge, said police.

Seven women died of delivery complications in Banke within two months.

Farmers, on the other hand, are troubled further, as many of them had taken loans to purchase the fertilisers.

Farmers are turned away from shops for refusing to buy two kinds of fertilisers.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected both production and supply lines, leading to shortages of seeds and chemical fertilisers as plantation season begins.

The vehicles had rammed into a parked truck in Banke on Sunday night, killing twelve passengers and injuring 21.

All passengers on the bus were migrant workers returning home from various cities in India after losing their source of income in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the Banke rural municipality, as many as 13 infected went into hiding after they tested positive for the coronavirus. The reasons are manifold, including rumours, fake news and illiteracy.

On Tuesday, the district administration decided to remodel spaces in Nepalgunj and Kohalpur as isolation wards, before the locals argued the infected be sent home.

With 24 positive cases in Nepalgunj, authorities are focusing on tracing contacts of those infected to control the spread of the virus.

The local administration on Monday issued a prohibitory order in Nepalgunj with effect from Tuesday to control the possible spread of coronavirus.

Most retail shops are closed due to lack of food grains and other daily essentials at the wholesalers’, according to the district authority.

While in a majority of districts, the situation remained normal with public complying with the order, in others the police had to make arrests, confiscate vehicles and even resort to imposing a curfew.

Many farmers in the rural municipality have converted the forest land into agricultural fields.