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Covid19: Nepal Response Situation Report No. XII, As of 22 June, 2020

Countries
Nepal
+ 4 more
Sources
DCA
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• The districts with COVID-19 positive cases has increased to 75, out of 77 with 23 deaths. According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), age group of 90 per cent COVID-19 cases ranged from 11 to 50; 91 per cent cases are men.

• The country lock-down starting on 24 March, 2020 has eased from 15 June, 2020 with limited services open. The flights are suspended until 5 July, 2020.

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has issued ‘Safety Guidelines for Lockdown Management’, restricting people from moving out of their homes between 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM, unless urgent; and allowing maximum 15 people attending weddings, death rituals, etc. with sufficient (two metres) social distancing maintained (MoHA, Safety Guidelines for Lockdown Management).

• The MoHP has projected that Nepal will have reported 40,000 cases of COVID-19 by Mid-July, 2020. It has prepared Guidelines for the Identification of Physical Resources and Human Resource Management for COVID-19; that says 80 per cent of the positive cases can stay on home quarantines; 15 per cent needs isolation beds and 5 per cent will need intensive care.

• The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an interim order to the Government of Nepal (GoN) to use the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund to repatriate Nepalese workers living abroad in highly vulnerable conditions.

• The COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) decided that the migrant workers, jobless would be allowed to go on foreign employment as per the recommendation of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (Meeting #3, June 19, 2020).

• The pandemic has disrupted supply chains, threatening small and informal businesses. Three in five employees have lost their jobs and tourism receipts are projected to fall by 60 per cent this year resulting into the loss of USD 400 million (UN Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, 19 June 2020 – Nepal).

• The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll on the mental health of people, triggering new issues while exacerbating existing ones. During the first 74 days of lockdown, 1,227 Nepalese committed suicide compared to the annual data of 5,785 last year (Nepal Police).

• Monsoon has become active across the country, with at least 17 deaths recorded because of floods and landslides in the past three weeks (Nepal Disaster Risk Reduction Portal, until 22 June 2020, GoN).

• The Social Welfare Council of Nepal has released a notice requesting all the I/NGOs to start supporting in quarantine centres.

• An estimated 800,000 migrant workers are returning home from places such as the Middle East and India. According to the World Bank, Nepalese migrant workers sent home USD 8.64 Million in 2019, almost a third of Nepal's GDP. Public health officials warn that the return of Nepalese migrants, if mismanaged, could lead to an exponential spread of the coronavirus in the country and loss of jobs could threaten the already unstable economy (Press Brief, June 18, 2020, Mercy Corps).

• The MoHP released the Public Health Standards during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown which outlines the essential, basic and other public health standards to be followed by the people and institutions (WHO, Situation Updates #9, 17 June 2020).

• Confirmed COVID-19 cases show an increasing trend in South East Asia Region with India and Bangladesh reporting the highest number of cases (WHO, Situation Updates #9, 17 June 2020).