KATHMANDU: A 25-year-old youth, who died while in quarantine in Banke, tested positive with coronavirus.

With this, the number of COVID-19 death in Nepal has reached two.

The youth, who died in Banke on Sunday morning, was infected with COVID-19, the Health Ministry has said.

His swab specimen was collected for testing and had come out positive, according to Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health Dr Bikas Devkota.

The deceased is a recent returnee from Mumbai, India.

He had returned Nepal from Mumbai on May 12. Immediately after arrival he was taken to Naraina-based quarantine center in Banke.

He had reported respiratory problems.

Meanwhile, the province government has made preparation to carry out the final rituals of the deceased as per the newly introduced directives.

Security personnel, including those from Nepal Army, Nepal Police will carry out the rituals as per the directives.

According to authorities, currently there are 38 people staying in the quarantine.

A 29-year-old woman from Bahrabise of Sindhupalchowk was the first one to die of COVID-19 on Friday.

Meanwhile, the contact tracing of the people who had come in contact with the deceased woman of Sindhupalchowk is going on, the Ministry of Health and Population has said.

According to Dr. Bikash Devkota, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population, medics from TU Teaching Hospital’s Community Medicine Unit, Dhulikhel Hospital’s Community Medicine Unit are working under the coordination of the Department of Epidemiology and Infectious Disease Control for the contact tracing.

He added that the swab of the people who came in contact with the first woman who died of coronavirus in Nepal is undergoing.

“The sample of more than 400 people who had come into contact with the deceased have been collected from various areas including Gongabu and Machhapokhari areas in Kathmandu,” the spokesperson said at the Ministry said in the daily briefing.

Spokesperson Dr. Devkota updated that the number of coronavirus cases in Nepal has reached 291 out of which 36 have been discharged after recovery. He added that 2 have lost their lives due to the pandemic in Nepal.

According to him a total of 1,769 tests have been carried out through PCR method in the last 24 hours making the total PCR tests 28,160 so far.

Similarly, in the last 24 hours, some 2,020 samples have been tested through RDT method.

He told reporters that there are 18,357 persons in various quarantines and 346 people isolation throughout the country.