Coronavirus Outbreak: 18 Nepalese who attended Nizamuddin event in Delhi, quarantined on return in country's Saptari district

Kathmandu: Eighteen Nepali Muslims, who recently returned from India after participating in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin area in New Delhi, have been identified and kept in a quarantine facility in southern Nepal’s Saptari district, authorities said on Wednesday. Famed for the shrine of the 14h century Sufi mystic Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya, the Nizamuddin area of New Delhi has emerged as an epicentre for spread of the coronavirus in different parts of India after thousands of people took part in a Tablighi Jamaat congregation from 1-15 March. [caption id=“attachment_8211861” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Several people who attended an event in Nizamuddin have been quarantined. PTI[/caption] Indian authorities have launched a nationwide search for participants of the huge religious gathering amid fears that thousands present there could have carried the infection to the length and breadth of the country. Various nationals, particularly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan come for Tabligh activities in Delhi. Nepali authorities on Wednesday said that 18 local Muslims, who recently returned from the Indian capital after participating in the religious gathering, have been quarantined in Saptari district in Southern Nepal. According to spokesperson of Kanchanpur municipality Raj Kumar Shah the India returnees have been quarantined at a newly constructed building of Lakshmi Naryan Secondary School. Meanwhile, around 400 Indian nationals, who gathered from different parts of Nepal to return to India, have been stranded in Birgunj area in Parsa due to the closure of the India-Nepal border. According to Parsa’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Ganga Panta, the huge mass of Indian citizens heading towards India via border in Parsa have been kept in an education faculty building . They returned to Birgunj Tuesday morning after finding finding that the border was closed in the Indian side. They were provided meal by Nepal Police on Wednesday morning and necessary arrangements are being made for their temporary stay. Meanwhile, two Indian men who travelled to Gaur of Rautahat district from Kathmandu riding on bicycles crossing a distance of more than 200 km during the lockdown reached Sitamarhi border only to find that the border was closed. Raj Kishore Sah and Sanjaya Sah, permanent residents of Betauna in Motihari district in Bihar of India, left Kathmandu on Sunday and reached Gaur on Wednesday, a town in Rautahat bordering Sitamarhi of Bihar. They used to work as fruit vendors in Kathmandu. “We used to work daily to earn a living. But we could not sell fruits after the lockdown, and we ran out of money. The shopkeeper did not give us goods on credit, so we left,” Raj Kishore told local media. They have managed to stay in the Nepalese side of the border for the time being. Nepal authorities on Wednesday detained 1,158 people, including 168 women, who defied the nation-wide lockdown in Kathmandu. Out of 993 samples so far tested in the government hospitals for coronavirus, only five are found to be positive. Over 80 people have been kept in isolation in different hospitals across the country.