As of 17 May 2021, according to the Nepal Government’s Ministry of Health and Population, a total of 7316 new infection cases were found in the country, and 145 infected people died of the Coronavirus. A total of 110263 people were infected with the virus, and a total of 5001 people have died of the virus to date. This type of situation has inundated people in the country,
Nepal is currently facing a severe attack by the second wave of the virus, causing daily new infection and death cases at a high rate, although this is a declining rate as of the last week. The second wave is thought to be more contagious and harmful than the first wave of last year, in terms of transmission and death. The country is now facing a severe lack of basic health services, like beds, oxygen/cylinders, and medicines.
What are the causing factors of the second wave?
The first factor is the free movement of people between the two countries: India and Nepal. India was facing the same wave at that time. That is why the contagious virus entered Nepal through people coming from India. It is thought that if the border was strictly restricted at that time, Nepal would not face such a dreadful situation caused by the virus.
The second factor is the unawareness and the negligence of people that most of the people, who could at least follow the preventive measures. They were not wearing masks and were not washing hands properly, and they were joining large gatherings like wedding ceremonies and other programs and rituals. It was found that many people were treating the virus as a fake phenomenon, or they were trying to refute it as the original virus. Similarly, young people or family members who had children and elderly people, and especially elderly people with chronic disease at home, had to strictly follow the preventive measures while visiting outside the home and returning home, but it was not practice them properly. Most of the people were ignoring it, knowingly or unknowingly, which helped bring the virus to their homes, making their weak family members infected by the virus.
The third factor is the lack of knowledge of other virus transmission ways. They do not know about washing goods or stuff, including money brought from the market. They use the goods brought from the market without properly washing. Goods like vegetables and other things were to get washed before use, but this was not practiced by most of the people, due to which the virus was transmitted through the means of goods brought from the market and returned money from the market.
The fourth factor is the lack of proper transportation. Vehicles were boarding passengers without proper preventive measures. This was the problem in the airports and bus parks. No distance was maintained by the passengers in the planes and in the buses.
Measures of solution
The government must strictly block the border. The budget should be allocated to health service providers as soon as possible to manage effective and efficient health services. It must be well monitored for possible fraud and weak health services. The government must be fully responsible for the effective management of health services. The government must make a quick decision for effective intervention; the long decision-making process must be changed for now. The next important responsibility of the government is to manage free tests for either all the people or for the poor who cannot afford the test. Similarly, the government should take responsibility for taking care of those families who depend on daily income. Financial institutions should give a big subsidy on the loans taken by the public. The government should also bring a friendly policy for this. It helps business people and the general public to stay at home for effective quarantine.
Public people must follow the basic preventive measures. The public must not go out of the home. They must wear masks effectively. They must wash their hands after touching each and everything. They must wash each and everything brought from the market before taking it to the room or home. They must wash money, especially returned money from the market. And most importantly, the public must be creative in following new preventive measures against the virus.