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COVID-19 in Nepal – the surge in Baisakh

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COVID-19 in Nepal – the surge in Baisakh Satish Raj Pandey, Shashi Dev Shah   The new year generally brings new hope for everyone. There is an air of optimism when the calendar page is turned. Wishes are exchanged for long life and success. This time, what happened in the 31 days of the first month of the Nepali New Year 2078 has been shocking and heartbreaking. The country is reeling under a devastating surge of COVID-19 cases spread far and wide causing havoc. In a situation akin to health system collapse, the underprepared health facilities were largely unable to meet the rapidly increasing demand. Very unfortunately, valuable lives were lost due to the overwhelmed hospitals that were overrun by the swelling number of patients with severe symptoms.  People were suffocating to death due to lack of oxygen. In this write up, we try to quantify this surge and make an effort to provide some details on how the outbreak has unfolded during the month of Baisakh (April 14-May 14, 202
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Is Nepal better off in Covid-19 response than Kerala (India)?

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  केहीदिन पहिला आएको एउटा लेख "आवश्यक छैन लकडाउनको तरवार" मा भारतको केरलाभन्दा नेपालमा कोभिडको अवस्था राम्रो भन्ने कुरोले मनमा धेरै जिज्ञासाहरु उब्जेको थियो। दैनिक संक्रमित संख्याकै भरमा यो कुरो स्वीकार्नु भन्दा अलिक भित्री विश्लेषण गर्न मनलाग्यो। सबभन्दा पहिला जनसंख्या हेर्दा २०११ को जनगणनाको आधारमा केरला (तीन करोड अड्चालिस लाख) र नेपालको (दुई करोड अस्सी लाख) जनसंख्यामा खासै फरक देखिन्न। केरलामा पहिलो कोरोना केस ३० जनवरीमा र नेपालमा २३ जनवरीमा देखिएको थियो। झस्स हेर्दा केरला र नेपालको दैनिक संक्रमणको ग्राफको ढांचा उस्ताउस्तै भएपनि केरलामा संक्रमितको परिणाम दोबर भन्दापनि धेरै छ। यस्तो किनभयो? १.केरला मा कन्ट्याक्ट ट्रेसिङ ( तलको ग्राफ) र परीक्षण बृहत गरियो जसले गर्दा संक्रमणले उग्ररुप लिनपाएन। नेपालमा सबभन्दा धेरै ५७४३ संक्रमण देखिँदा हामी २०००० परीक्षण गरेका थियौं भने सोहिदिन केरला ले ८३६९ संक्रमण देखिँदा ६२००० परीक्षण गर्दै थियो। २. कन्ट्याक्ट ट्रेसिङ बाट सम्पर्कमा आएकाको अनिवार्य आईसोलेशन तथा क्वारेन्टीनमा राख्नु पर्थियो जुन हामीकहाँ संक्रमित बढेसँगै उल्टै न्यून हुँदै गयो
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COVID19 in Nepal: Now that the world “has” vaccines, are we safe?

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  COVID19 in Nepal: Now that the world “has” vaccines, are we safe? Satish Raj Pandey, Shashi Dev Shah   Almost 11 months after @promed_mail sent this email (below) alerting the world about “pneumonia of unknown cause” in Wuhan, China, the world has recorded, by the time we write this, close to 57 million known infections out of which nearly 1.4 million (2.4%) have died due to COVID19 pandemic (JHU Coronavirus Update Center). While this pandemic has been highly politicized and has been extremely polarizing, these numbers, which look to continue to grow for the foreseeable future, can't be brushed off as not significant.  The mental shock, personal trauma, and economic devastation this has caused are of such magnitude and wide-ranging that they simply can't be ignored. The past few days have brought us very mixed news regarding the future of the pandemic. On one hand, the world recorded, for the first time, more than half a million daily cases, moving swiftly on to mor
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