Humla folks refuse to stay in quarantine

Although there are 141 quarantine facilities set up in seven local units of Humla district to prevent outbreak of COVID-19, the locals suspected to have contracted COVID-19 and foreign returnees have barely stayed in quarantine.

The 16-bed quarantine in Sarkegad rural municipality is sans inhabitant, mainly because such quarantines do not have basic facilities. Most of them from this locality identified to have returned from India were asked to be quarantined here but to no avail, informed Sarkegaad rural municipality’s chief administrative officer Rudra Bahadur Shahi.

Similarly, Tajakot rural municipality chair Bagdal Malla shared that quarantine facilities were set up at ward no 3 and 4 for the foreign returnees but not a single such person has shown up and stayed in quarantine for nearly two weeks to help stem the spread of COVID-19.

District Police Office, Humla’s Ram Prasad Gharti Magar said all those foreign returnees have been staying at their respective homes and all those entering the district from other parts of the countries were also not turning up in quarantine facility, the quarantines here have been left unused.

The police record shows that altogether 861 persons had entered the district from Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, Surkhet among others part of the country and India as well after the in the wake of the lockdown.

Only three rural municipalities in the district have recorded of quarantining 72 people so far. The three rural municipalities were Simkot rural municipality, Namkha rural municipality and Kharpunath rural municipality, according to the District Police Office, Humla.