Is Nepal over with COVID?

As per the statistics by the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) the COVID numbers are decreasing at the present in the country. Just yesterday, Nepal reported only 13 cases with 0 deaths. But yet the question still remains if the pandemic has actually come to an end!

Talking to NepalNews Dawa Shya, a hotelier from Bandipur says, “At the present, we do not have any COVID cases which lead us to wonder if it is because it is endemic or is it just the fact that people do not go for PCR tests anymore!”

“In the first pandemic everyone was cautious and were following the rules but during the Omicron outbreak, many were tested positive and 13 people died due to Omicron alone,” he adds.

MoHP reports say around 3 thousand are getting PCR tests everyday across the nation. Dr Nirmal Acharya, Medical Technologist at Bir Hospital explains, “Compared to the time of Omicron surge, people coming in for PCR and Antigen tests are much less. It could be one of the reasons why the numbers are dropping but also the fact that most of the people are vaccinated also helps.”

Things in Nepal are looking better in comparison to a while back, however with the people flouting safety precautions, is it likely that Nepal has chances of facing another COVID surge?

As the lockdown officially came to an end on March 4, 2022, and the new Nepali New Year coming up, many events and fairs have been organised in different places including Bhrikutimandap, and Durbarmarg.

According to the Associated Press, China’s largest metropolis of Shanghai remains in lockdown with 26 million people confined in their homes despite its ‘Zero-Covid’ policy and Wuhan redeeming itself COVID free on April 28, 2020.

Manisha Rawal, Dean of Teku Hospital, says, “We can not surely say that COVID has come to an end but the experts have said that COVID is endemic. But we still need to be careful and follow the safety precautions even if one has already gotten their booster dose.” “After the first lockdown, people were ready to party for New Year 2078 but then we faced another COVID surge. So, as a Doctor who has been in the field the whole pandemic, it is better to be safe than sorry,” adds Rawal.

While the number of people getting vaccinated across the nation has reached 2,91,92,280, the COVID count is still 9,78,538. “During COVID surge out of 300 people coming in for PCR tests, around 70% of them were tested positive, and now within 70-80 coming in for the test 60 % are negative. The differences seen in the number of cases are good, however, the number of people flouting safety precautions is alarming. We cannot control the crowd now that the lockdown has been lifted but the best way to stay safe is to wear a mask and use hand sanitiser,” exclaims Rawal.

The pandemic has affected people’s lives, economically and psychologically, and now that things are finally coming back to normal, is it really the time people start ignoring the risks, not following safety precautions?