KATHMANDU, KOMPAS.com – The Covid-19 outbreak facing India has spread across the border into Nepal.
Nepalese health officials have warned that hospital beds are not available, and vaccines are running low.
Meanwhile the number of new infections is increasing faster than overwhelmed clinics can record.
Also read: Neighboring India is Beware of the Distribution of a New Variant of the Multiple Mutant Coronavirus
The Straits Times reported the situation was so dire in Nepal that the Ministry of Health in the Himalayan country issued a statement on Friday (30/4/2021), essentially saying they were “raising their hands.”
“Since coronavirus cases have surged beyond the capacity of the health system and hospitals are running out of beds, the situation is out of control,” the ministry said after the government recorded 5,657 new Covid-19 infection on Friday (30/4/2021), the highest daily total since October.
More than a third of the tests came back positive for Covid-19. This condition makes officials worry that the true number of cases is much higher.
The Nepalese person who is infected but has only minor symptoms has been told to stay at home, not to be hospitalized.
Experts believe the outbreak was triggered by Nepalese migrant workers who returned to their hometowns in recent weeks from India, because lockdown enforced there.
India-Nepal border along 1,760 km between those vulnerable countries. Almost no one has returned, tested for the coronavirus or has been placed in quarantine.
Nepal has since closed its border crossings with India, but the virus is already spreading.
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