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Covid19: Nepal Covid 19 and Flood Response Situation Report No.XXVIII, as of 12 October 2020

Countries
Nepal
Sources
DCA
Publication date

National Context:

  • The districts with COVID-19 active positive cases are 76 out of 77, with 645 deaths, and a total of 111,802 COVID-19 positive cases. The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has directed all the hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley to postpone all non-emergency surgeries for the time being; and instructed to perform regular surgeries only after the COVID-19 infection is under control. The Ministry has also stated that all government hospitals in the valley will be made COVID hospitals. The health materials available with the health service department will be distributed in those hospitals and necessary arrangements will be made (Media Briefing #203, Ministry of Health and Population-MoHP).

  • Of the eight countries in the South Asia, Nepal has the lowest recovery rate of 70.3 percent and the highest 29.2 percent of active cases.

  • In a bid to curb further spread of COVID-19, the Government of Nepal (GoN) has urged to perform only routine rituals at temples during the upcoming Dashain festival.

  • The Traffic police and Transport Department will set up 11 help desks this week to examine the health protocol set by the GoN and monitor the bus fare. It is estimated that fewer than 700,000 people will leave the valley due to the COVID-19 pandemic this festival season. In previous years, over two million people used to leave the Kathmandu Valley.

  • The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) on 9 October, 2020, issued a circular to 264 Local Governments (LG), directing them to commence construction of new buildings for upgradation the health facilities by mid-November.

  • Over half of the active cases in the country are currently home isolated. Home quarantine and isolation is posing problems in following up the clinical status (WHO Nepal, Situation Update #25).

  • Teams for case investigation and contact tracing; and arrangements for additional isolation, intensive care and ventilatory beds need to be ramped up rapidly in Kathmandu valley to manage the case surge (WHO Nepal, Situation Update #25).

  • The MoHP has said antigen test will be conducted to detect COVID-19 cases. Revising its national testing guideline, the MoHP has set the criteria for antigen-based testing. The test will be useful for mass screening, for urgent report at health centres, and for people living in congested settings such as in barracks, prisons and elderly care homes (MoHP, Media Briefing).

  • Heavy rainfall that triggered flooding and landslides across Nepal, led to 367 deaths, 100 missing and 325 injured (12 June - 12 October, 2020, NDRRMA).