KATHMANDU, JANUARY 12
Two cases of Covid-19 sub variant JN.1 have been detected among the individuals entering Nepal from India from the Birgunj border point in the last few days. The cases were detected after they were subjected to an antigen test at the health Desk operated at the Birgunj border point, one of the main entries to Nepal from India.
Both patients have been identified as being infected with the new sub variant JN.1, according to Suman Chandra Thakur, Health Desk Chief and Public Health Inspector at the Birgunj Metropolitan Municipality.
The swab samples of both confirmed cases were sent to the Provincial Health Laboratory in Janakpur for gene sequencing which confirmed the JN.1 variant. This marks the first instance in the current fiscal year of two individuals being found infected with COVID-19 in Birgunj, according to Thakur.
One of the infected individuals is a 59-year-old Nepali citizen from Dhading returning home from Kolkata by train, tested positive for Covid-19 infection by antigen test conducted on 46 individuals at the health desk by Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, the other infected the 25-year-old Indian citizen from Kolkata, part of an Indian tourist group traveling via train from Kolkata to Kathmandu via Raxaul, was tested positive for the infection during the antigen test on 55 individuals on Wednesday.
The infected individual from Dhading has been isolated at Narayani Hospital in Birgunj, while the Indian youth who tested positive was sent back to India under the responsibility of the Indian police on the same day, Thakur confirmed.
Since the onset of the first wave of COVID-19, the health desk has been operational at the border point, screening those arriving from India via train, bus, or private vehicles before allowing entry into Nepal.
Due to the impracticality of testing everyone entering Nepal, individuals are initially screened at the health desk and subjected to the antigen test only if they exhibit symptoms suggestive of fever and cough, as per health workers at the desk.
However, with the J.N. 1 variant spreading in various parts of neighboring India, monitoring has been heightened at the main entry point in Birgunj for individuals entering Nepal. Nonetheless, only two individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 so far, Thakur stated.
In recent days, the health desk in Birgunj has conducted daily screenings of 200 to 250 individuals, including antigen tests for 50 to 60 individuals. Currently, a team of eight health workers, comprising two staff nurses, three health assistants, two lab technicians, and one lab assistant, is deployed at the health desk in Birgunj, the main border checkpoint for entry into Nepal.
