Humla people keep working amidst lockdown; shortage of materials for quarantine

People in Humla, a district in the Karnali state have not turned away from their regular duties despite the government lockdown against the coronavirus which has already spread globally.

When the people are expected to stay home and not to make any exposure to the public during the lockdown, one of the effective tools to stem the spread of virus, people of Kharpunath rural municipality-2 in the district are reported engaged in the infrastructure development works. According to a local Sagar Rawal, on Friday he saw a large group of people labouring for the agriculture irrigation’s road project. ”In my guess, there were over 100 workers,” he said.

It is learnt that it was the ward chair who had told them to keep working.

When approached, Chief District Officer (CDO) Binita Bhattarai promised to verify the information and to immediately halt the construction works if it was real. According to her, the locals have been urged to stay home during the lockdown. She also appealed to all to follow the official advice, stay home and take other suggested precautions for the prevention of possible risk of infection.

But Rawal complained that a person who had recently returned home from India was not following the advice to self quarantine for 14 days. People who had recently returned village from outside have been urged to stay at home quarantine as a precautionary measure against the possibility of imported case(s), it is said.

Similarly, a 30-bed temporary quarantine facility has been readied here. Earlier the District Management Committee had announced to build a 50-bed quarantine center, but it was reduced to 30 beds due to the shortage of required materials. Humla Chamber of Commerce and Industry chair Namgel Tamang had assisted materials to set up the facility. As CDO Bhattarai said, they are striving to extend the size of the quarantine center. However, no suspected case of COVID-19 has come into notice in the district.

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