Latest COVID surge leading to another health emergency in Nepal

As COVID -19 cases continue to rise in Nepal, neglecting precautionary measures can lead towards a country wide health emergency.

The new surge in COVID cases is a global trend. In Japan alone, the number of detected infections have surpassed 90,000 in a single day. In the UK, COVID cases are increasing at an accelerating rate. Governments have issued warnings and have urged the public to follow COVID - 19 prevention strategies.

Recent media briefing by WHO, has made it clear that the pandemic is nowhere near over yet. Director general of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has expressed his concerns on the rising COVID -19 infections and death in the world.

“Observing the increasing trend of cases in Nepal and in other nations, deliberately neglecting COVID -19 precautionary measures will make the countries' COVID situation worse,” says medical practitioner Dr. Ajay Kumar Shah.

“ Surveillance has reduced significantly – including testing and sequencing – making it increasingly difficult to assess the impact of variants on transmission, disease characteristics, and the effectiveness of counter-measures,” said WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a recent media briefing.

“ The virus is running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden based on their capacity, in terms of both hospitalization for acute cases and the expanding number of people with post covid-19 condition - often referred to as long-covid,” he added. WHO has urged governments to regularly review and adjust their COVID-19 response plans based on the current epidemiology. Similarly, masking and improved ventilation must be adopted.

Amidst other infectious diseases like Cholera spreading, Nepal is now entering a risky state. Hospitalization and people requiring intensive care are increasing day by day, if it continues the health system will soon be stressed out.