DHANUSHA, JANUARY 10
With COVID-19 infection taking its toll in neighbouring India, its impact has been seen in the districts of Province 2. Till the end of last month, the infection rate was stagnant here, but now the graph is going up.
According to the Province Health Directorate, Dhanusha, in the past two days, 16 samples, out of 99, tested positive. Bearing in mind the increasing risk of the virus, health and other surveillance along the Nepal-India border has been beefed up.
These days, the neighbouring country has been reporting above 100,000 positive cases on a daily basis.
Armed Police Force Province 2 Chief Ganesh Thada Magar said antigen testing had started on arrival at the check point and positive cases were promptly referred to health posts.
Jaleshwor Bhithamod of Mahottari, Birgunj of Parsa, Gaur of Rautahat, Madar and Aurahi of Siraha now feature COVID-19 help desks targeting people arriving from India. Besides, police are planning to launch the help desk at each local level with support from the respective government and the chief district officer.
All eight districts - Bara, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Parsa, Rautahat, Saptari, Sarlahi, and Siraha in the Province share the border with India.
There are customs offices in all but Bara district of Province 2 which shares 464 kilometres open border with India.
The Armed Police Force's provincial office stated that security arrangement was weak as several of the local levels in the province have not established coordination with security bodies.
Doctors have cautioned that most of the border transit points of Province 2, including Janakpurdham, could turn out to be hot spots of COVID-19 in the wake of increasing risk of Omicron virus and the daily increase in the number of infection cases. Highest number of customs checkpoints and longest border with India is in Province 2. People travel to and from India via 33 customs offices, 414 kilometres main road, 229 kilometres motorable road and footpaths at 557 spots in the eight districts of the province.
The bodies concerned need to keep strict watch as there is high risk of entry of infection from across the border given the heavy cross-border movement of people from so many places.
Director of Province 2 Health Directorate Bijaya Jha said it was an alarming sign that the number of coronavirus cases was going up for the past few days. He said the situation might become more critical if there is negligence in adopting health safety measures.
Meanwhile, although COVID-19 cases are increasing, the number of people turning up for vaccination has not increased in the province.
The government had set a target of vaccinating 66 per cent of the population by mid-January, but so far only 38 per cent of the population in the province has been vaccinated.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
