BAJURA, JUNE 17

Seventeen days have passed since swab samples were collected from Bajura and sent to Dhangadi Provincial Hospital for lab test. However, results of these swab sample tests are yet to come.

A girl had died due to COV- ID-19 infection and her mother was diagnosed with the virus on May 30. Swab samples of people who had stayed together with the mother and daughter at Dhuralasaina quarantine, health workers and police personnel who had come into contact with them were collected and sent to Dhangadi for lab test on June 1.

“Though the swab samples were sent to Dhangadi for lab test more than a fortnight ago, the reports of 62 people are yet to come”, said Bajura Health Office Chief Dayakrishna Panta.

Due to the delayed report, the 62 people who had stayed with the COVID infected persons have already gone home.

As the swab samples had piled up and test results were delayed, the province government had halted swab collection for five days earlier and written to the district regarding the decision.

A total of 865 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the rapid diagnostic test in Bajura.

All of them have been kept in quarantine. But, quarantined people are demanding that they be allowed to go home citing delay in the report.

Sudurpaschim Province has just one PCR machine in Dhangadi laboratory. The province government, however, has not shown any interest in adding PCR machines to ensure speedy tests for coronavirus.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 18, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.