KAVRE, JULY 18

Crisis Management Centre and COVID-19 Prevention and Control Command Post’s directive to expand the capacity of isolation wards and quarantine facilities to the local levels has fallen on deaf ears in Kavre.

Two months have passed since the directive was issued to expand the capacity of quarantine facilities in all local levels in the district.

Out of 13 local levels, ten have been asked to construct an isolation ward of ten beds each, said District Health Office Chief Dr Narendra Jha.

Only three local levels — Banepa Municipality, Panauti Municipality and Panchkhal Municipality — have constructed isolation wards of 5, 15 and 7 beds, respectively.

Out of total 21 COVID-19 infected people, seven have returned home after they recovered from the illness in the district.

Kavre CDO Shrawan Kumar Timilsina said every local level should construct a quarantine facility of 100 beds to reduce the possible risk of COVID-19.

According to CDO Timilsina, a quarantine of 100 beds is a must keeping in mind more than 11,000 Kavre locals employed abroad. A total of 13 local levels have 851 beds at present. Panchkhal Mayor Mahesh Kharel said his office was managing resources and manpower to expand the capacity of quarantine and isolation ward.

As a part of the government plan to rescue people from foreign countries with the spread of coronavirus, 245 have returned to their homes in Kavre. Of them, 182 have been staying in local levels’ quarantine facilities while others have returned home after spending their time in the quarantine.

Those rescued from foreign countries have been kept in Bagmati Province’s holding centre at Kathmandu’s Basundhara. People from Kavre are then brought to the concerned local level from the holding centre.

Returnees have the choice to stay at home quarantine, at well-facilitated hotels in Dhulikhel or the quarantine facilities managed by the local levels. As per the guidelines issued by the government, local levels have to keep foreign returnees in quarantine for 14 days. After that, they stayed in home quarantine for a week.

Some 11,587 locals from the district have been employed in various countries. A total of 682 males and 143 females, who returned from various countries including India, have been staying in various quarantine facilities so far.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 19, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.