As the number of people returning home to celebrate the Nepali New Year from India rises, so do the tally of Covid cases at the Gauriphanta border point of Kailali district and Gaddachauki border point in Kanchanpur district. This year, the Nepali New Year falls on April 13.

Ganesh Saud, in-charge of the health desk at Gauriphanta checkpoint, said that the number of Covid cases is increasing every day among those entering Nepal through the border point.

Since March 14, as many as 58 people returning from India have been found infected with Covid, according to Saud. On Saturday, antigest tests were conducted on 105 people and four tests returned positive. Similarly, two persons each tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday and Thursday as well.

On Sunday, health workers carried out antigen testing on 47 entrants in Gauriphanta and 26 in Gaddachauki border points. However, no one tested positive for the virus.

On Friday, however, officials couldn’t conduct any tests due to a lack of antigen kits, Saud said. “Every day, around 500 people cross the border from Gauriphanta. Covid infection is seen more in the people returning from the Maharashtra state of India,” he said. “Majority of the infected are labourers, who work in various parts of India.”

The Kailali Health Office sent 1,000 kits to the Gauriphanta, a major border point in Sudurpaschim Province. But the kits reached the health desk only in the evening.

According to Saud, on March 14, eight people were found infected at Gauriphanta, the highest figure in the past month. “We are conducting testing of suspicious Covid patients only as there are not enough kits and human resources for the testing of all the people entering through the border point,” Saud said.

At Gaddachauki checkpoint, the reported cases of Covid-infected people are low, and people at the health desk say that they have not been able to test people returning from India properly.

Prem Singh Bhandari, in-charge of the Gaddachauki Health Desk, said that they are only conducting tests on people crossing the border on foot because passenger buses do not make stops there.

“The security personnel at the border point do not help to stop the buses, saying there is no order from higher authorities to stop them,” Bhandari said. “Health authorities across Nepal have stopped active case detection, including contact tracing and free testing for everyone, after the decline of the second wave of the pandemic in 2021.”

Hospitals have been carrying out tests only on those seeking polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to go abroad or seriously ailing patients with respiratory illnesses.

According to Bhandari, an infected person can transmit the virus to many people and the risk of community transmission will be so high if they cannot conduct tests on people crossing the border. Since mid-March, only one person returning from India has been found infected with the virus.

“We suspect that several people entering the country by buses might be carrying the coronavirus,” Bhandari said. “Currently, we are only able to conduct tests on 15 to 20 people daily who show symptoms or raise suspicion. Along with Covid, we have not been able to conduct tests of malaria on the people coming on buses.”

Amid reports of an increase in the number of Covid cases all over the country, the Ministry of Health and Population has recently asked Covax to supply 1.6 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Of late, Nepal’s major hospitals have reported coronavirus infections. Doctors say elderly people and those with underlying conditions have been suffering severely from Covid. Some infected people, whose health conditions were severe, are being treated in intensive care.

Published on: 9 April 2024 | The Kathmandu Post