Jhapa, July 27

With the suspicion that COVID-19 might have spread in the community, mass testing for the coronavirus has started in Mechinagar, Jhapa, from today.

Mechinagar Municipality and Jhapa District Health Office jointly started mass testing at the eastern border point, Kakarbhitta.

Swab samples of 117 people were collected for PCR test on the first day, said the municipality’s Social Development Committee Coordinator Nabin Baral.

Twenty APF personnel had tested positive for COV- ID-19 in Kakarbhitta last Friday.

With the detection of COVID among APF personnel, it is suspected that COV- ID might have spread in the community.

Municipality Health Department Chief Sashikala Rai said swab samples of 32 APF personnel of APF Customs Revenue Gulm, Kakarbhitta, and 85 people, including journalists and entrepreneurs, were collected for PCR test today.

Mechinagar has recorded 70 COVID-19 cases so far.

Forty-six have fully recovered from the virus and returned home while 24 are still staying in isolation wards of different hospitals.

Coordinator Baral said they would give continuity to mass testing in the future.

Mass testing will be carried out in Dhulabari and Charali areas in the second phase.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 28, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.