NEPALGUNJ, April 20: The local administration in Banke district has decided to enforce a week-long lockdown in the district starting April 22, following a sharp rise in new cases of COVID-19.
A meeting of the District COVID-19 Crisis Management Committee (DCCMC) held on Tuesday took a decision to this effect.
According to the chief of the District Police Office, Banke, Om Rana, the DCCMC meeting took the decision to enforce lockdown for a week in the district starting Thursday as a part of its efforts to contain further spread of the virus.
Week-long lockdown in Banke from midnight Monday
Banke district has turned into a COVID-19 hotspot of Nepal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases each day. On Monday alone, the district recorded 332 new cases of COVID-19.
Most COVID-19 wards, ICUs and ventilator facilities in the district have run out of capacity. According to the officials, there are 86 patients at Bheri Hospital and 23 at Nepalgunj Medical College currently undergoing treatment for the COVID-19 infection.
Similarly, seven patients are undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at Hotel White House and five in Kohalpur Muncipality’s COVID-19 hospital. As many as 812 others are staying in isolation in their own homes as of Tuesday morning.
The district has so far reported 63 fatalities linked with COVID-19 infection.
