Meanwhile,
the government is preparing a team of 3,225 individuals for the contact
tracing.
Ministry’s Secretary Laxman Aryal
said that two thirds of the human resources would be from the health sector and
other would be fresh recruitment as per the procedure approved from the Council
of Ministers meeting.
Five
more labs to be set up
Secretary Aryal shared that PCR
machines are being installed and laboratories set up at five additional places
for expanding the reach of tests for coronavirus. According to him, the lab
would be set up at the Nepal Army Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, the Armed
Police Force Hospital and at Dailekh and Dadeldhura.
"We
would be able to conduct tests at the rate of 10 thousand tests daily with the
upgrading of the existing laboratories and establishment of five additional
ones. It is not necessary to purchase PCR machine for every local level,"
he said.
Director
of the National Public Health Laboratory, Dr Runa Jha acknowledged that the
reports of tests were delayed due to the sheer number of samples submitted for
testing at present. She, however, said that all the samples that have been
collected would be tested within one week from today.
Director
at the Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases
Control Division, Dr Basudev Pandey, said the contact tracing of all the
infected persons was being carried out. Director General at the Department of
Health Services, Dr Dipendra Raman Singh stated that there is adequate stock of
required medical supplies for COVID-19. He added that there was enough stock of
personal protective equipment (PPE), N95 masks and surgical masks to last for a
month.
Accord ing to him, the process of procuring
the medical goods would be continued considering the number of COVID-19 cases.
Cases
estimated to reach 40 thousand till mid-September
The
number of people infected by coronavirus till date is 8,605 and this number is
expected to reach to maximum 40 thousand till August 18 estimating the number
of Nepalis coming home from abroad including India, Ministry's joint secretary
Dr Gunaraj Lohani said.
In
the meantime, coronavirus testing laboratories have been set up in 22 places
while the number of corona special hospitals has been expanded. At present, the
number of ventilators has been expanded to 1,000 and the number of ICU to
1,800.
The Ministry of Health and Population is at work to
conduct tests of two percent of the total population of the country (600,000
populations) across the country as stated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in an
address to the nation.
Public health emergency announcement under study
The Ministry had decided to recommend the Cabinet meeting
held on June 4 to declare a nationwide public health emergency in view of
increasing infection cases.
Minister Dhakal however said a decision in this regard
would not take place at present. Efforts to prevent and control the infection
are taking place in coordination with the Ministry and the COVID-19 Crisis
Management Centre, he said.
There is a guideline that 25 percent of the total swabs
collected by government mechanism on a daily basis is given to private health
institutions for a test. Per head cost incurred for the test would be
reimbursed from the government to the private health institutions. Each test is
charged between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000.
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