Although the Provincial Health Directorate in Birendranagar sent 3,760 of the 5,000 rapid diagnostic kits it received from the central government to various districts in Karnali a week ago, the test kits are yet to be fully utilised.

As of Wednesday afternoon, only 787 people, most of them in quarantine, were tested for Covid-19 as health workers were sent to the villages with the kits

“Health workers have gone to the villages with the RDT kits. People suspected to have contracted the disease will be tested within a few days,” said Rita Bhandari, director at the Provincial Health Directorate. According to Bhandari, all tests conducted so far have yielded negative results.

Officials say that the remoteness of the villages make it challenging to conduct mass testing. “Two teams sent to villages in the northern parts of the province are yet to contact us,” said Dr Tashi Lama, chief of the Humla District Health Office.

“We have asked them to inform us about the test results as soon as they find a place where mobile phones work,” said Dr Lama. “We have tested 80 people in other villages so far,” he said.

It takes about four to five days to reach some villages from the district headquarters in Humla, Mugu and Dolpa districts. And several settlements are not covered by mobile networks.

Meanwhile, the Dolpa District Health Office is yet to receive the kits. “We were informed that the kits have already been sent from Surkhet. But they are yet to arrive here,” said Dr Sijan Rawal, chief of the district health office in Dolpa. “We will initiate rapid testing as soon as we get the kits,” he said.