Fifty-nine people infected with the coronavirus have finally been moved from Narainapur Rural Municipality, Banke to an isolation ward, more than 24 hours since they were diagnosed with Covid-19. The infected were quarantined in Narainapur as the district lacked an isolation ward.

The Nepalgunj-based Lions Dental Hospital, where the infected have been moved, however, has only 25 beds in the isolation ward.

According to Deputy Mayor Uma Thapa, the Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City earlier decided to place 25 infected in the isolation ward and 34 others in a makeshift isolation ward set up at Kohalpur-based Agriculture Development Bank. That plan, however, is yet to materialise, and all the infected would be placed at the Lions until new arrangements are made, Thapa said.

“Resources at the hospital are not enough, but we will place them here until other arrangements are made,” she said. “The risk is low as none of the infected has shown symptoms of the disease.”

As per the amended plan, 23 individuals would be placed at the Lions and the rest at the ADB’s isolation ward in Kohalpur, according to Thapa. Meanwhile, locals in Kohalpur have protested the district administration’s decision to move the infected to their locality.

The infected were placed at various quarantine centres in Narainapur for the lack of space and equipment for an isolation ward in the vicinity. The province has scrambled to manage resources as the number of Covid-19 patients has surged over the week. Ninety-nine individuals have been diagnosed with the viral disease so far in Banke, with the Health Ministry confirming six coronavirus cases in the district on Wednesday.

On Tuesday afternoon, Narainapur descended into chaos as the locals protested against the district administration’s decision to move the infected to Nepalgunj and Kohalpur without proper measures. Locals had argued that since all the infected have been asymptomatic, they should be allowed to go home.

The infected were moved in two lots, on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.