<p>Nepal's former king and queen have tested positive for Covid-19 on their return from the Kumbh Mela, which was attended by lakhs of pilgrims.</p>.<p>Former king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, 73, and his queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah, 70, returned to Kathmandu on Sunday after a week-long visit to Haridwar to celebrate Kumbh Mela.</p>.<p>Shah's press secretary Phani Raj Pathak confirmed the couple had tested positive.</p>.<p>"They are in self-isolation at Nirmal Niwas," he said in a statement Tuesday evening, referring to their residence.</p>.<p>Kumbh Mela attracts enormous crowds of Hindu devotees to take a ritual dip in the Ganges River.</p>.<p>Pressure has grown to halt the festival, which has drawn as many as 2.5 crore people since January, as India struggles to curb its raging coronavirus outbreak.</p>.<p>Health experts have warned it could turn into a "super-spreader" event as pilgrims who have mostly ignored official advice to maintain distancing return to their towns and villages all across India and abroad.</p>.<p>A top seer of one of the akharas died from coronavirus after the festival and hundreds of attendees have tested positive.</p>.<p>Shah, the last king of Nepal, was crowned in 2001 after his elder brother Birendra Bir Bikram Shah and his family were killed in a massacre that wiped out most of the royal family.</p>.<p>He stepped down from the throne in June 2008 after parliament voted to abolish Nepal's 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, transforming the country into a secular republic.</p>
<p>Nepal's former king and queen have tested positive for Covid-19 on their return from the Kumbh Mela, which was attended by lakhs of pilgrims.</p>.<p>Former king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, 73, and his queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah, 70, returned to Kathmandu on Sunday after a week-long visit to Haridwar to celebrate Kumbh Mela.</p>.<p>Shah's press secretary Phani Raj Pathak confirmed the couple had tested positive.</p>.<p>"They are in self-isolation at Nirmal Niwas," he said in a statement Tuesday evening, referring to their residence.</p>.<p>Kumbh Mela attracts enormous crowds of Hindu devotees to take a ritual dip in the Ganges River.</p>.<p>Pressure has grown to halt the festival, which has drawn as many as 2.5 crore people since January, as India struggles to curb its raging coronavirus outbreak.</p>.<p>Health experts have warned it could turn into a "super-spreader" event as pilgrims who have mostly ignored official advice to maintain distancing return to their towns and villages all across India and abroad.</p>.<p>A top seer of one of the akharas died from coronavirus after the festival and hundreds of attendees have tested positive.</p>.<p>Shah, the last king of Nepal, was crowned in 2001 after his elder brother Birendra Bir Bikram Shah and his family were killed in a massacre that wiped out most of the royal family.</p>.<p>He stepped down from the throne in June 2008 after parliament voted to abolish Nepal's 240-year-old Hindu monarchy, transforming the country into a secular republic.</p>