KATHMANDU: A 65-year-old man in Nepal who was staying at a mosque, where 12 Indians were tested positive for COVID-19, has contracted the disease, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the Himalayan nation to 31, health officials said on Sunday.
Twelve Indians were among the 14 new coronavirus cases reported in Nepal on Friday.
The Indian nationals were staying at a mosque in Triyuga area of Udaypur district. They were quarantined in a school building after residents informed authorities about them.
Basudev Pandey, head of the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division of the health ministry, said the man was tested COVID-19 positive on Saturday evening.
The patient, a resident of Udayapur district, was living in the same mosque in Triyuga where 12 Indians got infected with the deadly virus earlier, officials said.
According to the health ministry, of the total COVID-19 cases, four patients have recovered completely.
While three patients, including a 65-year-old woman, were discharged from hospitals on Saturday, one recovered last month.
A total of 8,081 coronavirus tests have been conducted so far, it said.
Meanwhile, eight persons were injured on Sunday in Bahadurmai area of Parsa district following a clash between two groups over some Jaamati people taking shelter in a mosque there.
According to police, locals pelted stones at the mosque protesting the Jaamati people taking shelter there.
In retaliation, those inside the mosque also pelted stones.
Eight persons were injured in the clash, police said.
Two persons have been arrested in connection with the clash.
In a separate incident, police raided a mosque at Mayadevi village in Kapilvastu district where 14 people had gathered for prayers, violating lockdown norms.
The security personnel took the group to a nearby quarantine centre.
Nepal is under lockdown till April 27.
Authorities in Nepal's Sunsari District on Saturday sealed 14 mosques and quarantined 33 Indians and seven Pakistanis taking refuge there, amid a surge in the coronavirus cases in the country.
The mosques were sealed in Itahari Municipality in eastern Nepal.
As part of its efforts to combat coronavirus, the government has released 421 inmates from various prisons across the country following a recent Supreme Court order, said Pradip Raj Kandel, Director General in the Department of Prison Management.