- The two countries have closed the border between India and Nepal to curb the expansion of the coronavirus. The Darchula district in Nepal, west of the country, is one of those bordering and one of those directly affected by the impact of the confinement. More than 130,000 people live, more than half are in poverty, and most are working at the border.
Nepal has recorded five coronavirus cases, all of them taken from outside. However, experts who have spoken to Al Jazeera have attributed the low number to the few tests they have carried out, as in a country with 30 million inhabitants fewer than 1,000 tests have been carried out.
On 22 March, Nepal closed its borders with India, leaving thousands of citizens on the territory of India. The Nepali Government has announced that it has installed several infrastructures along the border to assist passengers moving, but the number of people has increased alarmingly and facilities are not enough.
The organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a statement stating that Nepal has abandoned its working citizens and has not given them the opportunity to return home: “The Government of Nepal should react immediately so that its citizens can return to the suspension.”
The Government, for its part, has said that the problem has been solved and that there are no exceptions. The head of the Paudel Darchula district, Yadunath, has said that, in cooperation with the Indian authorities, five shelters have been installed at the border.
Something similar has happened to the inhabitants of India, where there are about 1,000 Indians who cannot cross the border. When they tried to cross the border, they reported that the Indian Police had shot in the air, even though the police refused to do so. All of them are confined to a school in Nepal until they go through isolation.
Fear of stigma
Some of the inhabitants of Nepal have entered the country illegally, between the fields and the rivers. They're in their villages, but they don't want people to know that they've come in like this. In fact, you know, they say they're going to dial their homes with a big red cross, because that's what they do with the infected.
They fear that they will be called “guilty of the spread of the plague” and that is why they have said nothing. However, they are aware that they have to maintain the confinement so that their family members do not become infected and express their desire to do so.