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Nepal - COVID-19 Response Situation Report No. 09, 20 July 2021

Countries
Nepal
Sources
DCA
Publication date

National Context

• The ongoing lockdown/prohibitory order in Kathmandu Valley that had initially been imposed on 29 April and reissued several times, has been extended with further relaxations modality till 25 July. Businesses will be allowed to operate till 7 PM. However, restrictions on activities that can lead to overcrowding such as conferences, cinema halls, party palaces, swimming pools and other sports, gathering at public spaces, religious gatherings, as well as educational institutions are still on.

• According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the COVID-19 infection rate has been around 18 to 20 per cent in Nepal for the last three weeks.

• On 12 July, Nepal's Supreme Court directed President Bidya Devi Bhandari to appoint Nepali Congress Party leader Sher Bahadur Deuba as Prime Minister and reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives. On 13 July, Deuba was sworn in as Nepal's new Prime Minister. Deuba has said that the main priority of his government is vaccination against the coronavirus. The new government has pledged to vaccinate a third of its people in the next three months and every Nepali by April 2020.

• Public health experts say that the government's rapid reopening of the economy may invite a third wave of coronavirus as little attention is given to enforce the curbs. Despite the orders, many businesses and public vehicles are not following the safety protocols and measures, which may give rise to COVID-19 cases.

• The Government is administering Vero Cell and Johnson and Johnson vaccine. As of 19 July, 3,067,118 people have received their first shot and 1,134,317 people have received both shots of the COVID-19 vaccine in Nepal.

• China pledges additional 1.6 million vaccine doses to Nepal. With this announcement, China has become by far the largest vaccine donating country to Nepal. In total, Nepal will receive 3.4 million doses of Chinese vaccines.

(Source: MoHP, UN, Media)