Local residents of Shikhar Municipality in Doti are demanding that they be tested for coronavirus after fifteen individuals who returned home from quarantine tested positive for the virus.

Of the 29 who returned home after staying in quarantine at Amar Secondary School in Ward No. 3 of Shikhar Municipality, 15 tested positive for coronavirus on June 14, 12 days after their swab samples were collected for testing.

Ramesh Malasi, chief of the Doti District Health Office said. “The first case in the district was also reported from the same quarantine facility.” Health workers suspect the patients contracted the virus while at the quarantine facility.

Given the high risk of spread of the disease in the municipality, locals of Shikhar municipality have been demanding that authorities test them at the earliest. Around 400 residents in Tallo Ali, Mallo Ali, Aturali, Joragaun of Ward No. 3 have been demanding the tests since the past few days. On Wednesday, a team of the Armed Police Force from Dipayal also visited Aturali expecting demonstrations in the area.

Harish Shah, health coordinator at Shikhar Municipality, said the local unit does not have the capacity to run mass tests since it only has 20 viral transport media now. “It is not possible to test each individual in Ward No. 3, let alone the entire municipality. For the time being, we are preparing to collect swab samples of one individual from every household,” said Shah.

Sitaram Joshi, mayor of the municipality, said people’s representatives have been deployed in Ward No. 3 to settle the issue with the locals. “The villagers are yet to come to an agreement on whether to send the infected to the isolation centre or to have them stay in self-isolation at home,” said Joshi.

Meanwhile, the 15 Covid-19 infected individuals said that they were informed about their positive result only six days after their swabs were collected According to them, they did not take safety precautions while at the facility since they believed they were not infected.

Harka Bogati, 18, one of the Covid-19 patients, said, “I was so confident I didn’t have the virus so I met my friends and family after I returned home from the quarantine. But the other day while I was playing volleyball with my friends, I was informed that I was among the infected,” h told the Post. “There were around 40 to 50 people in the volleyball field with me. The virus may have spread further.”

Khadka Bogati, a local of Ward No. 3, also among the Covid-19 infected in the ward, said, “ I was relieved after coming home. I stayed in quarantine for 15 days and came home after I was told my test result was negative.” According to him, they were told to go home by security personnel deployed at the facility.

However, Prem Jora, chairman of Ward No. 3, said those 15 patients had insisted on returning home from the quarantine. “I had requested them to stay in the quarantine until the test results came back. But they did not listen to me. They left the facility on June 12,” said Jora,

As of Wednesday, the number of people infected with Covid-19 in Doti has reached 33.