It's time to follow the public health protocols that were in place during the three previous waves of the pandemic
COVID-19 has once again been spreading alarmingly across the country in recent days, but there does not seem to be much concern about the disease among the general public. Two new variants of COV- ID-19 - BA.5 and BA.2.75 - have been detected in Nepal since June, with the former said to be the most contagious coronavirus variant to date. From mid- June to mid-July, the positivity rate increased tenfold from 0.64 per cent to 6.15 per cent. Research has shown that one person with the BA.5 variant can infect upto 18 people as compared to 12 people for the Omicron. From a handful of cases a day, new cases in the hundreds have been reported in the past few days, with Nepal recording its first death in 73 days recently. On Tuesday, the health authorities diagnosed a total of 814 new cases of coronavirus infection during a 24-hour period. Of them, 509 patients had tested positive for the RT-PCR tests and 305 for antigens in 40 districts, including all three districts of the Kathmandu Valley.
With the spread of the new variants of the coronavirus, there has been an increase in the number of people being admitted to hospitals. According to the health ministry, as of Tuesday, 38 patients are under intensive care while five are on ventilator support. Similarly, 159 patients are receiving treatment under institutional isolation, while the remaining 4,985 patients are in home isolation. However, both the government and the peopleseem to be taking the new viruses lightly because, although highly contagious, they have shown to be milder than the previous Omicron or the Delta variants, not requiring mass hospitalisation or the use of ventilators as during the second wave of the pandemic. But a sudden spike in the number of active cases, even if not very severe, could put a heavy strain on the limited testing or hospital facilities. At the start of the year 2022, there were 4,900 active cases, but within days the figure had jumped to more than 30,000, with as many as 5,000- 6,000 new cases recorded every day. Currently, Kathmandu and Lalitpur are the only two districts with more than 500 active cases while Kaski has between 200 and 500 cases. But there could be many more infected people in the community as a lot of people with COVID-like symptoms may not have undergone a test along with those who are asymptomatic.
Unlike China, we cannot afford to go for complete lockdowns of cities to bring the virus under control. The months-long severe lockdowns in 2020 devastated people's livelihoods and the country's economy, in particular tourism and manufacturing. Thus, the people must stop being careless and follow the public health protocols, namely maintaining physical distance, washing hands regularly with sanitisers and masking, that were in place during the three previous waves of the pandemic. This is important as the new variants are said to affect even those who have been vaccinated as well as people with chronic diseases having poor immunity. The government must scale up the vaccination campaign, while also regulating the open border with India, as people returning home from there have shown a high rate of infections.
Farming policy
Every government formed since the promulgation of the new constitution has been emphasising the need to become self-reliant in agriculture by modernising and mechanising it with support from the government. However, no substantive changes have taken place in this sector. We have been importing food, edible oil, fish and even vegetables worth billions of rupees every year. Nepal will definitely become self-sufficient in the agriculture sector if the government and the private sector worked together to increase agricultural production and hassle-free subsidised loans, fertilisers and quality seeds were provided to the farmers.
However, the concerned ministries and policymakers have failed to mention how Nepal's agriculture sector could be modernised and mechanised. While addressing a function the other day, re-appointed Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said the fiscal budget for 2022/23 had a provision of concessional loans to the farmers to be provided at their doorsteps. Past experiences have shown that any concessional loan earmarked in this sector has gone into the pockets of a handful of people who have got political clout in the power corridors. People will not take up farming unless they see economic prospect.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 4, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.