By Our Correspondent, Nepalgunj, Apr. 17: With the number of COVID-19 infections increasing rapidly in Banke, authorities have tightened cross-border movement through the Jamunaha border point.

Following the decision of the District COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre, the heads of various security agencies of the district went to the border and banned travel to India and instructed the testing for those returning home to be been intensified.

Superintendent of Police Om Rana, who is also the head of the District Police Office of Banke, told The Rising Nepal that Nepalis, other than those travelling for essential medical treatment, would not be allowed to cross the border from Friday.

Similarly, Indians would be allowed to go to India on the condition that they do not return to Nepal and Nepalis arriving from India would be screened for suspicious symptoms and contacts, Sub-Inspector Bishnu Giri, chief of Jamunaha Police, informed.

127 positive cases in a single day

Meanwhile, of the 183 swab samples tested at Bheri Hospital on Friday, 127 people tested positive, taking the infection rate in the district to 69 per cent.

This is the highest single-day rise in cases since a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory was established in Bheri Hospital last year.