Returnees from India posing high risk in Bajura

Bajura, May 24

Increasing influx of Nepali migrant workers from India to Bajura has posed high risk to people in the district. The inflow of people into Nepal has grown after India eased restrictions on movement of migrant workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Inspector Dan Bahadur Rokaya, 339 people have returned to Bajura from India in the past three days.

Though all the people coming from India have been quarantined, lack of management poses risk. Swab collection of returnees is a must for their PCR test. But, people are being sent to quarantine facilities after normal health check-up, said officer Dayakrishna Pant of Bajura District Health Office.

With more people arriving in Bajura, local authorities are also having a hard time managing them. Lack of adequate quarantine facilities and proper management have added to the problem.

Similarly, as migrant workers are being brought to the district without the driver or his helper donning personal protective equipment from Dhangadi, people are worried. Civil Society member Pradipraj Jaishi said that arbitrary entry of people from India and lack of medical check-up on the Nepal side of the border had increased the risk of virus transmission.

According to District Health Office, returnees from India will be kept in quarantine for 14 days and sent home after RDT or PCR test.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 25, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.