INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, April 3
Samples of 96 persons under quarantine in Kharipati have been collected for COVID-19 tests.
Nepalis entering the country
via air on March 21 from coronavirus-hit countries were sent to the quarantine centre.
Nepalis arriving from Malaysia, Japan and some Gulf
countries were sent to the quarantine centre at Kharipati, Bhaktapur.
Samples of 92 persons, who are under quarantine in Kailali and
Kanchanpur, have also been collected, according to the health ministry
Those samples are being tested in National Public Health Laboratory, BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Janakpur, Hetauda, Pokhara,
Lumbini, Surkhet and Dhangadi.
The laboratories are using real time polymerase chain reaction, for testing samples to detect coronavirus
&The machine which is used to test the sample for coronavirus is portable,& said Sapana Subedi, acting director at Gandaki Province Public
Health Laboratory.
&A few of the samples tested in the laboratory should be sent to National Public Health Laboratory for verification and
accuracy of the tests,& said Subedi.
&Verification of the samples should be done to confirm whether the machines and reagents were working
This will be done for some time,& said Dr Bikash Devkota, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population.
From among the seven
persons, who have been in close contact with the sixth COVID-19 patient, four have been traced, according to the health ministry.
Contact
tracing of all the patients is under way, according to the health ministry.
Meanwhile, the health ministry has received a total of 3,502
phone calls through its hotline numbers 1115 and 1133 in the past 24 hours.
&Of them, 107 callers have been kept under the red zone and we
are trying to contact them,& said Dr Devkota
Also 5,636 people submitted their queries through the health ministry app.
According to the health ministry, a total of 15 coronavirus
suspects have been kept in isolation wards of different hospitals across the country.
A version of this article appears in e-paper on April
04, 2020 of the Himalayan Times.
The post Sample of 96 quarantined persons collected appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
