A 58-year-old permanent resident of Waling Municipality-3 in Syangja district succumbed to coronavirus infection (COVID-19) on Sunday night.

Health Director of Gandaki Province, Binod Bindu Sharma, confirmed the death of the man who had been receiving treatment at the Western Regional Hospital, Pokhara Academy of Health Sciences.

The Provincial Health Directorate today issued a press release confirming the death of the man admitted to the isolation ward last night.

The deceased had pre-existing kidney problems, was hypertensive and diabetic. He is said to have returned to Syangja from New Delhi, India with his wife on June 3.

According to Waling Municipality Health Department chief, Kamal Pandey, the husband-wife duo had arrived in Waling on a vehicle sent by the municipality to rescue them from Sunauli border area.

The deceased tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. Health authorities have yet to collect swab samples from the deceased’s wife and daughter who have been placed at a quarantine center at Malepatan in Pokhara-5.

This is the first death owing to COVID-19 in Gandaki Province, and the 14th in the country.

Of the 14 people that have succumbed to COVID-19 in the country till date, most breathed their last without being tested. They were tested only after their death.

Moreover, the government has not conducted tests, neither RTD nor PCR, on everyone placed in quarantine although most deaths have occurred at quarantine centers.