KATHMANDU: The Sudhur Paschhim Province is preparing to send people home from quarantines without COVID-19 test due to lack of test kits.

The Health Directorate of Sudurpaschim State has stipulated a new guideline for coronavirus test.

The guideline has stipulated that those who stayed in quarantine for 14 days and did not develop any symptoms of coronavirus could return home.

The new guideline has been issued following the state has witnessed 66,000 people in quarantine and faced shortage of RDT kits used for coronavirus test.

According to the provincial health directorate, asymptomatic people who have stayed in the quarantine for 14 days will be sent home without carrying out tests.

The directorate has instructed the local bodies to make necessary preparations in this regard.

The province has stated lack of kits has put them in a difficult situation adding that around 66,000 people are in different quarantine facilities in the province.

Tests have not been possible due to the influx of Nepali nationals from India.

The province has only one laboratory in Dhangadi which can conduct only 250 PCR tests a day. According to the lab sources, it has a backlog of over 1,500 samples.