COVID-19 in Nepal – the surge in Baisakh
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