The District Health Office in Baitadi has initiated a drive to conduct Polymerase Chain Reaction test of at least two family members of a Covid-19 infected person.

The health office decided to expand PCR testing, as two coronavirus patients from Sunarya Rural Municipality, who were sent home after spending 14 days in isolation, tested positive for coronavirus for the second time. PCR tests of the individuals were not conducted before they were sent home.

“The two infected persons were released on condition that they self-isolate at home.
But no PCR tests were conducted before they were sent home,” said Bhuwan Joshi, the focal person at the district health office.

"We believe that there are other cases like these. Therefore, the health office has started conducting PCR tests of two family members of an infected person,” said Joshi.

"The family members of Covid-19 patients released from isolation facilities are at high risk of contracting the disease. So it became necessary for us to run PCR tests on at least two members of a patient’s family.”

According to the health office, the lab tests of the family members of 141 infected people were completed in the district by Sunday. All the reports were negative.

A total of 326 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Baitadi as of Sunday. Four among them are active cases, said Joshi.

Hundreds of people entering the district from India and other parts of the country in the past few months had been kept in quarantine facilities. Most of the quarantined individuals were sent home without their PCR test report.

"They stayed in quarantine for more than a month and were sent home without their PCR test report," said Joshi. “Some had to stay in quarantine for a month waiting for their result. So we had to send them home, as the results were taking too long to arrive.”

According to him, the results of 130 swab samples sent to Dhangadhi and Kathmandu for PCR tests some two months ago are yet to come.

Currently, 191 people are staying in various quarantine facilities in Baitadi. The local units sent a good number of people home to self quarantine, as the quarantine facilities set up in schools buildings have been removed in the past few weeks.

However, Yogesh Prasad Bhatta, chief at the district health office, said that the local units were instructed not to send people home to quarantine, as most of the houses do not have the facilities and enough space required to self-isolate.

Health workers in the district are concerned about the possible community transmission of the disease, as home quarantining has proved to be ineffective.

"Home quarantine in rural areas is not safe, as most of the houses are small and family members have to share bedrooms and bathroom, making self-isolation an impossibility," said Mohan Kalauni, a health assistant working in Dilasaini Rural Municipality.

According to Narendra Karki, chief at the health division of the Social Development Ministry of Sudurpaschim Province, the province has made it mandatory for recent returnees to stay in quarantine for 14 days, but it has not been able to conduct PCR tests on all quarantined individuals.

“We were sending individuals who did not exhibit any symptoms of Covid-19 home,” said Karki. “However, we have not started conducting PCR tests of the family members of the infected.”