COVID-19 test begins outside capital for the first time

DHARAN, March 29: The test of COVID-19 disease has begun outside the valley for the first time on Sunday.

The BP Koirala Institute of Health Science (BPKIHS) located in Dharan of Province 1 began the test today after the federal government decided to arrange lab facilities in each province.

Until now, all the suspected swab samples were sent to the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu. The BP Institute has sent 25 throat swabs to the National Laboratory so far. Of them, 16 have tested negative and other test results are awaited.

According to Deputy Spokesperson at the hospital Dr. Ashok Air, the hospital has around 15 technical experts and can test around 20 throat swab samples every day.

“But, if we get proceeded swab from other labs of the State, we have the capacity of testing around 80 samples in a day,” he added.

According to Dhiren Limbu, Head of Microbiology Department at Dharan-based Central Campus of Technology, it takes around 4 to 5 hours to get the result.

“The test is carried out based on the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) which is easily detected in the advanced laboratory of BPKIHS”, shared HOD Limbu.

The National Laboratory has conducted 875 samples so far. Of them, five have tested positive.

(With inputs from RSS)