Birgunj border point sees overwhelming number of exodus

Although government on Sunday decided to seal all border points connecting to both India and China, for the next one week beginning from Monday to stem the spread of COVID-19, the Birgunj-Raxaul border point in State No 2 sees an overwhelming number of people exiting to India since today morning.

The government has already issued instructions to the local units for the implementation of the decision. Nevertheless, a significant number of Indian nationals working in various capacities in several places across Nepal are returning to their country in bulk via this border point since early morning.

The cargo vehicles ferrying the essential supplies, however, have been allowed into Nepal from India through Birgunj border point. A health desk set up here screens the people for COVID-19 before they enter Nepal.

According to Auxiliary Health Worker (AHW) at Birgunj metropolis, Jitendra Prasad Gupta, a single health worker has been examining the passengers’ body temperature with thermometer at the health desk.

When the influx or exodus in the border point is relatively higher, a single health worker can hardly manage to check the health of all the passengers smoothly, he said.

More than 1000 persons entered into Nepal while around equal number of persons exited from Nepal through this border point Monday morning, according to the Armed Police Force stationed at the border point

Meanwhile, the meeting of the Security Council Parsa held on Sunday had decided to quarantine the Indian nationals entering Nepal. The decision will only be effective for those Indian nationals coming to Nepal from various places across India.