DHANGADHI, AUGUST 8

Swab samples have been collected to diagnose whether the virus has spread in the community level of the Sudurpaschim Province.

The provincial government has started collecting swab samples from communities as the province is at a high risk of infection.

Director at Sudurpaschim Province Health Directorate Dr Gunaraj Awasthi said district health offices of all nine districts of the province have been directed to collect samples to detect whether the virus had spread in the community level. He added that health workers were directed to collect swab samples of at least two family members of an infected person, who stayed in home quarantine.

Following the directives, public health offices in the province have started collecting samples in the community levels. Dr Awasthi said the swab samples of 450 persons were collected.

Health Department Officer at Dhangadhi Sub-metropolis Laxmi Raj Upadhaya said it was necessary to carry out a test for the deadly virus in the community level as many people had returned to their homes from India. He said preparation was underway to collect swab samples of the people who returned to their homes from quarantine facilities even as they tested negative on RDT, earlier. As many as 200,000 people have returned from India to their homes in the province. According to Sudurpaschim Health Directorate, swab samples of 40,537 persons were collected from nine districts of the province for PCR test.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 9, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.