By Smita Adhikari, Pokhara, Aug. 12: With the approval of home isolation for those who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Pokhara, some have lauded it while some others have opposed the new provision.

This debate surfaced here in social media after an employee of a Ward office of Pokhara Metropolitan City who was confirmed to have COVID-19 was granted home isolation after the family members of the infected applied for allowing them to keep the infected at home isolation for treatment.

Western Regional Hospital which is designated as Provincial Corona Treatment Center of Gandaki Province allowed the patient to stay in home isolation as the 40-bed Center was fully occupied and the infected person's health background as well as present condition was not that risky.

Now, the infected is getting treatment at his home in PMC-16 and his family members are happy for providing necessary care and treatment to the infected at home.

However, some of the residents of the Ward have protested the approval and expressed dissatisfaction over it. Swab collection of some of the people in the neighborhood of the infected and the employees of the Ward office in which the infected worked has been going on at present. The employees the neighbours of the infected whose swab has been collected are putting up a condition that they should also be allowed for home isolation in case they are infected.

Approving Following confirmation of

Provincial Health Directorate has stated that some of the infected have been allowed to stay at home isolation by following some health safety standards as per the demands of the families of the infected.

Number of COVID-19 cases has been on the rise of late.

Nawa Raj Sharma, Corona focal person of the Provincial Health Directorate, said that 10 COVID-19 patients were in home isolation in Pokhara alone. Some six have already recovered from the virus by staying in home isolation, according to him.

COVID-19 tally in Gandaki Province till the date has reached 1,648. Presently, there are 40 patients under treatment in isolation at the Western Regional Hospital which is designated as Provincial Corona Treatment while 17 infected are getting treatment at Provincial Infectious Disease Hospital at Lekhnath.

Focal person Sharma said that 17 infected were taken to the Infectious Disease Hospital after the allocated bed in the Corona hospital were occupied.

Sharma said that standards on home isolation and hospitalization of the COVID-19 infected were made as beds in hospitals fell short of demands with the increase in the number of infected.