Local authorities of Rautahat have converted All Nepal Football Association's Chapur facility into a quarantine centre amid concerns over the spread of Covid-19.

The newly constructed women's technical centre – the first women's football academy of the country —has been converted into temporary quarantine at initiative of Chandrapur Municipality, according to Karma Tsering Sherpa, president of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA).

“Altogether 36 persons, who had returned to Nepal from different parts of India via the Bairgania border in Gaur, were kept in the quarantine centre the first day,” said Sherpa. “The academy has 56 beds and more will be added on Saturday.”

According to Sherpa, the municipality has taken the responsibility of arranging beds while the Nepal Army will provide food. The Armed Police Force will look after the security of the quarantine centre.

The academy is funded and built under the FIFA Forward Project.

The football governing body of the country on Sunday had offered its facilities to be turned into temporary quarantine and isolation wards in the country’s fight against coronavirus.

It has also offered academy hostels at its headquarters in Satdobato and Butwal and Dharan to the government if these places need to be converted into quarantine centres.

All sports activities in the country including the ongoing Martyrs Memorial 'B' Division League, which was into the sixth round, have been called off in the wake of coronavirus fears.

Nepal so far has recorded four Covid-19 cases, three live cases, but there are widespread concerns over the rapid spread of the virus.

The government has enforced a lockdown starting Tuesday morning.

The virus that emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December has spread across the world and killed over 27,000 people and infected more than 596,000 people.