Dullu, March 25 : "Ring up once if you have any illness. We will come to treat you at home". This is the public notice issued by the District

Health Office while making public contact numbers of ambulances of concerned rural municipalities and municipalities as a measure to contain outbreak of widespread COVID-19.    

In order to check the possible spread of infection, the District Health Office Dailekh has placed a strategy to mobilize health workers' team to

provide treatment to the patients at home. As there is road access to 89 out of 90 wards in the district, it is possible to reach out to the doorsteps of the needy people for providing treatment service, said District Public Health Officer Thir Prasad Regmi.    

"If anyone grows illness, call us once. We will come to treat you at home", he said, adding, "They have started treating people at home to curb coronavirus spread".    

The District Health Office has urged entire district people not to come out of home if they grew fever, cough and short breathing. The health office has issued a notice with mobile number of ambulance drivers of nine local levels and shared the information to the public through social networking sites, radio and health posts mechanisms,    

"Our health team will reach to the patients' home no sooner phone is received to the contact numbers of ambulance drivers. Arrangement has been made to immediately take the patients to the district hospital", Regmi further said.    

He claimed that they would not bear loss of lives in the lockdown in absence of treatment if this directive is abided by. "We have kept 10 ambulances standby to rescue patients during lockdown. At least 100 quarantine wards have been prepared in different areas of Dailekh".    

Corona fear: rural areas getting insecure, cities comparatively safer    

The headquarters and city areas of the district have witnessed no movement of human being whereas mobility is on the rise in rural areas. With the increase in the score of returnees from city area, India and other third countries, the rural areas have seen wider mobility of people.    

The cities are safer as the arrangement of keeping vigil on returnees at quarantine for 14 days after health examination is strictly enforced. The risk is higher in rural areas for no placement of health desk or quarantine, complained local people.    

It is noted that isolation wards have been arranged in Athbis municipality, Naumule rural municipality, Guransh rural municipality, Bhawatimai rural municipality and Dullu rural municipality among 11 local levels of the district while other rural municipalities do not have quarantine beds and isolation wards.    

Nam Bahadur Shahi, a local of Thantikandh-1, said there is a fear of virus outbreak when people are moving to rural areas without examining their health. "Returnees from India and third countries have come to their homes without quarantined or properly health checked. The rural municipality has not yet set up 'health desk', isolation ward and quarantine to prevent the disease. It has spread fear among the locals", he said.