High alert has been sounded at border points in Rupandehi to check the spread of ‘Omicron’, a new variant of COVID-19.
A meeting of the District COVID-19 Crisis Management Committee held under the chairmanship of Chief District Officer Rishiram Tiwari took decided to this effect, said Assistant Chief District Officer Bishwo Raj Marasini.
He added that a circular had been sent to the concerned local levels to keep high vigilance at different bordering areas including the Belahiya border point.
The local levels have been asked to keep foreign nationals under surveillance as well as to pay attention to spreading awareness about the new variant.
Tourists from different countries including India, Australia, Netherlands and China enter Nepal via Behaliya check point.
Chief of Health Office, Rajendra Giri, said that they have directed to be strict about the use of mask and sanitiser at bordering areas, to monitor whether or not the travellers have got full dose of vaccine against COVID-19 and to perform rapid test if there is doubt.
The World Health Organisation has categorised Omicron as a ‘variant of concern’.
Meanwhile, 13 swab samples have been collected from Dhangadi and sent for tests in Kathmandu to confirm if they are the new coronavirus variant.
According to Province Public Health Laboratory, the swab samples sent for test include 10 samples that tested positive for COVID-19 at Seti Provincial Hospital and three samples that tested positive for antigens at Gaddachauki entry point of Kanchanpur.
“Given the confirmation that the new COVID variant, Omicron, has already entered the country, the samples, most of which already tested positive in PCR tests, were sent to confirm whether they were the new variants,” said Province Public Health Laboratory Chief Ram Prasad Ojha, adding that the central laboratory in Kathmandu is the only laboratory where the variant can be confirmed.
The samples were sent to the Kathmandu-based National Public Health Laboratory. Gene sequencing is the method used to identify virus variants and it is said to be an expensive method.
