Covid19: Nepal Response Situation Report No. VIII, As of 25 May, 2020

Covid19: Nepal Response Situation Report No. VIII, As of 25 May, 2020, Banke, Bardia, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Doti, Achham, Dailekh, Dhading and Gorkha

 

Nepal has recorded 4 deaths as a result of COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 positive cases have increased to 43 districts. According to the Ministry of Health, 90 per cent of the people infected with COVID-19 are of ages ranging from 11-50.

• The country lock-down started on 24 March, 2020; continues until 2 June, 2020. The ights are suspended until 14 June, 2020. The borders with India and China are closed until further notice.

• The Government of Nepal (GoN) will announce relief packages for business entities aected by COVID-19 that includes tax relief, concession on loan interest, access to easy loan, and concession in electricity among others. (Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Televised State Address, 25 May, 2020)

• Considering the increasing cases of COVID-19, the District Administration Oce, Banke at Province 5 has imposed curfew at Narainapur area from 25 May until further notice. The district security committee has decided to mobilise a joint security team comprising of Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, and Nepal Police. The area has been identied as one of the hotspots of virus transmission.

• The flow of Nepalese migrant workers has spiked in border areas posing challenges to the Government of Nepal (GoN) to manage them in quarantines, despite the reports that the available quarantine centres across the country are poorly managed with no basic facilities including drinking water, nutritious food and safe space for women.

• Including the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), Teku, COVID-19 lab test services through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) has been expanded to 20 other institutions across the country, with at least one laboratory in each Province. (MoHP_25 May, 2020)

• As COVID-19 continues to weaken the health system, an estimated 4,000 children could die in Nepal in the next six months, UN agency warns. UNICEF says it fears that without urgent action, the number of children dying before their fth birthdays is going to increase for the rst time in decades. (UNICEF, Press Note, 13 May , 2020).

• According to the World Health Statistics 2020, COVID-19 is causing signicant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods, and threatening the recent advances in health and progress towards global sustainable development goals.

• New UNDP estimates for global human development – as a combined measure of the world’s education, health and living standards – is on course to decline this year for the first time since the concept was developed in 1990. The decline is expected across the majority of countries - rich and poor - in every region.

• Global per capita income is expected to fall 4 per cent. The World Bank has warned that the virus could push between 40 and 60 million into extreme poverty this year, with sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia hardest hit.

• The ILO estimates that half of working people could lose their jobs within the next few months, and the virus could cost the global economy USD10 trillion.

• The World Food Programme says 265 million people will face crisis levels of hunger unless direct action is taken.

https://reliefweb.int