Nepal reports first Covid-19 death after more than two months

Nepal today reported the first Covid-19 death in last two-and-a-half months.

The last time Nepal witnessed Covid-19-related death was on October 24, according to the Health Ministry. “The countrywide death toll touched 12,020 since the Covid pandemic started,” it informed. The ministry also confirmed that some 988,979 infected people have recovered from the disease so far, though the national active Covid-19 caseload has reached 21, today. The nationwide Covid-19 infection tally remains at 1,001,020.

According to the latest data of the ministry, a total of 555 PCR tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, while no antigen tests have been performed during the same time. With this, a total of 5,992,656 PCR tests have been carried out till date. Nepal's Covid-19 recovery rate stands at 98.8 per cent, while the fatality rate stands at 1.2 per cent. 

Currently, there are no individuals in any quarantine facilities across Nepal.

Indian Army hands over medical equipment to Nepal Army

 Indian Army has sent medical equipment to Nepal Army.

As part of its ‘Neighborhood First’ policy, medical equipment and supplies worth Rs 288 million provided by the Indian Army were handed over to the Nepali Army today, according to a press note issued by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. "In a ceremony at Nepali Army headquarters, the medical equipment was handed over by Indian ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra to Nepal Army General Purna Chandra Thapa," the press note reads, adding that the ambassador reaffirmed India’s support to Nepali Army in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and lauded its contribution in this respect. 

The medical equipment, including ventilators, ambulances, ICU beds, PPE kits, PCR test Kits etc was delivered to Kathmandu yesterday. "The Indian Army has been assisting the Nepal Army to fight Covid-19 through various kinds of assistance since last year, including 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccines, which were provided in March," it adds. "The latest assistance is another testament to the close cooperation between the two armies and the two countries, particularly in times of need."

Health Ministry designates 14 swab collection centres in Kathmandu

After a sharp rise in new coronavirus cases, the Ministry of Health and Population today announced 14 more swab collection centres – to facilitate extensive testing of coronavirus infection – in Kathmandu valley.
The ministry has designated 14 hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley to collect specimens, nasal and throat swabs for polymerase chain reaction tests, the press note confirmed, urging the public to visit these swab collection centres from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm any day, if they have come in contact with Covid-19 infected person or recently visited Covid-19 hotspots.
Issuing a press note the ministry has also asked the people that they can visit previously established coronavirus-related health facilities. “People can visit fourteen hospitals including Patan Hospital, Civil Hospital, Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Birendra Hospital, Police Hospital, Bhaktapur Hospital, KMC Hospital, Star Hospital, Bir Hospital, Armed Police Force Hospital, Hams Hospital and Nepal-Korea Friendship Hospital,” the ministry added.
The ministry has also requested public to mandatorily follow Covid-19 health guidelines, stay inside unless in case of emergency, not crowd, and observe festivals at their homes owing to the escalating cases of transmission within Kathmandu Valley and throughout the country.
The ministry also claimed that authorities are speeding the process of contact tracing of suspicious and infected persons.
According to joint-spokesperson at the ministry Dr Sameer Kumar Adhikari, there will be no charges for the tests and swab collection centers. “The ministry had recently updated the testing guidelines to increase the number of tests,” he said.

List of the swab collection centres:
Patan Hospital
Bhaktapur Hospital
Civil Hospital
Kathmandu Medical College (KMC)
TU Teaching Hospital
Bir Hospital
Teku Hospital
APF Hospital
Birendra Hospital
Prasuti Griha (Maternity Hospital)
Star Hospital
Hams Hospital
Nepal Police Hospital
Nepal Korea Friendship Hospital

Government restricts movement of people and vehicles in night

The government has restricted the movement of people and vehicles from 10 pm to 5 am except for emergency purposes.
Issuing a new directive ‘Lockdown Security Standards-2020,’ today, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that people will not be allowed to walk outside their homes in the nighttime from 10 pm to 5 am. “The new directive is aimed at maintaining high security alert as the lockdown is being gradually eased,” the directives reads, adding that Nepal Police personnel will be monitoring people's movement from 10 pm to 5 am. “For factories and industries, the government has limited the number of workers to only 10 at a given time,” it adds.
The government has brought the directives after 87 days of lock down to contain the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). The government imposed the lockdown from March 24, and has been extending it time to time. But from June 15, the government has relaxed lockdown depending on the places and number of cases. The country has lost over Rs 600 billion in the last 87 days, making the government broke as the lockdown halted the revenue mobilisation. One one hand the economy is going to register negative growth and on the other poor people have started dying due to hunger as they have been out of work since last three months. The government's mishandling of the pandemic has also bleed the government coffer as it has no money to pay salary to the government employees from next month. 
A Cabinet meeting on June 10 has tasked the Home Ministry to prepare a security modality to manage the lockdown as it will be gradually eased. The directives is issued as part of government strategy to ease the lockdown in different stages.
From June 15, the government has allowed to operate private vehicles – both two-and-four-wheelers – under odd-even number system in 73 districts – except Sarlahi, Rautahat, Kapilvastu and Dailekh districts – from five in the morning till ten at night.
The directive has also limited the number of people in goods carrying vehicles to only two.
Likewise, the new directive has also barred more than 15 persons to gather for in religious and cultural gatherings, including marriages and funerals, at one place. Likewise, more than 10 persons will not be allowed to gather at one time in factories, manufacturing companies and construction sites, the directives reads, adding that the security agencies and the district administration offices in all 77 districts have been asked to strictly implement the directive. “The ministry has also instructed the concerned agencies to fully implement the 'Health Protocol’ like including physical distancing rule of at least 2 metres between two persons, issued by the Health Ministry while enforcing the rule.”
The ministry directed the authorities to take action against those who violate the rule under the existing laws, including Essential Services Operation Act, 1957, Infectious Disease Act, 1964, National Criminal Procedure (Code) Act, 2017, and Local Administration Act, 1971.

Livelihoods of more than 55 million domestic workers at risk due to Covid-19

Nearly three-quarters of domestic workers around the world – more than 55 million people – are at significant risk of losing their jobs and income due to lockdown and lack of effective social security coverage, according to new estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The vast majority – some 37 million – of these domestic workers are women. An assessment made at the beginning of June shows that the most affected region was Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with 76 per cent of domestic workers at risk, followed by the Americas (74 per cent) Africa (72 per cent) and Europe (45 per cent).
While domestic workers in both formal and informal employment have been affected, those in informal employment accounted for 76 per cent of those at risk of losing their jobs or working hours.
In countries with strict levels of lockdown, domestic workers, whether formally or informally employed, have been unable to go to work. But while some of those formally employed still had access to unemployment insurance, for domestic workers in informal employment staying home has meant losing their livelihoods with no safety net to fall back on, making it difficult for them to put food on the table.
The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing issues. Only 10 per cent of domestic workers have access to social security, meaning no paid sick leave, guaranteed access to health care, employment injury benefits or unemployment insurance. Many domestic workers earn as little as 25 per cent of average wages, leaving them without savings in case of a financial emergency.
“The Covid-19 crisis  has exposed the particular vulnerability of informal domestic workers, emphasising the urgent need to ensure they are effectively included in labour and social protection” said ILO technical officer for Vulnerable Workers Claire Hobden said, adding that it disproportionately affects women who make up the vast majority of domestic workers worldwide.
In some regions domestic workers are predominantly migrants who rely on their pay to support their families in their countries of origin. Non-payment of wages and the closure of remittance services has left the families of migrant domestic workers at risk of poverty and hunger.
Live-in domestic workers have mostly continued to work, in confinement with their employers. However, reports suggest they have worked longer hours due to school closures and are carrying out more demanding cleaning tasks.
In other cases employers have stopped paying their live-in domestic workers, due to their own financial circumstances or a belief that domestic workers do not need their salaries since they cannot go out.
In some countries, where migrant domestic workers are required to live with their employers, some have been found on the streets after their employers dismissed them for fear of catching the virus. This puts them at risk of trafficking.
The ILO is working with domestic workers’ organisations and employers’ organisations to ensure the health and livelihoods of domestic workers. It is undertaking rapid assessments of the level and nature of the risks facing them, so that governments can devise policies that guarantee at least basic social security coverage, including access to essential health care and basic income security.
Twenty-nine countries have ratified ILO Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers, which was adopted nine years ago by the International Labour Conference. Many more have taken concrete measures to extend labour and social protection coverage to domestic workers. The ILO has supported roughly sixty countries to close gaps in coverage.
While these measures have increased the number of domestic workers in formal employment, the overall rate of informality remains high. The ILO has called for efforts to formalise domestic work to be urgently accelerated in order to protect domestic workers from future shocks.

EU offers Rs 9.8 billion aid package to fight coronavirus

The European Union (EU) has announced an aid package of Rs 9.8 billion (Euro 75 million) for Nepal to tackle the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and mitigate its impact.
The support combines redirected existing commitments with new funds, granted in the form of budget support to allow the government direct and swift access to this financing, according to a press note issued by the EU Delegation to Nepal.
“In difficult times, the European Union is a reliable friend and partner for Nepal,” it reads, adding that the EU hopes that its contribution will support the efforts of the government to respond effectively to this crisis so that the impact on the most vulnerable is reduced. “International cooperation and solidarity are now more important than ever,” EU ambassador to Nepal Veronica Cody said.
Across the world, the EU is ensuring that partner countries are able to fight the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. By combining resources from the EU, its member states, and European financial institutions, the EU has put together a ‘Team Europe’ package totaling more than Euro 20 billion to support its partners’ immediate health responses to the coronavirus, as well as their economic recovery, according to the press note.
In Nepal, the EU is mobilising Rs 9.8 billion (Euro 75 million), of which Rs 7.2 billion (Euro 55 million), is a reorientation of the existing funds and Rs 2.6 billion (Euro 20 million) represents a new commitment. “The EU’s support will be directed at two areas: assisting the Nepali authorities to respond to the immediate health crisis and boosting the country’s economic response and recovery," the press note further reads.
The EU will give Rs 1.6 billion (Euro 12 million) to support the government’s health and preparedness plan. These funds are being made available either by topping up resources for already existing projects focussing on the health sector or by reorienting resources to other projects that would integrate health-related activities and crisis response, including tackling gender-based violence. Similarly, Rs 8.2 billion (Euro 62.6 million) will support the government’s response to the social and economic consequences of the pandemic.
The press note also reads that although the government’s strict measures to trace, isolate and treat the virus have so far helped to contain the health crisis, such measures will, as in all countries worldwide, have a negative economic impact. “By stimulating the economy and labour demand, through support to people’s incomes, employment retention, and the extension of social protection programmes that assist the most vulnerable, the European Union (EU) hopes to assist the government’s economic recovery plan," the press note adds.