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凯发官网下载客户端:Surging infections, fatalities put Nepal in hard struggle to cope with COVID-19 - Xinhua | English.news.cn
"the surge in the new infections and deaths is worrying," dr. jageshwor gautam, spokesperson with the ministry of health and population, told xinhua. "we are struggling hard to deal with the present situation."
a man works at an oxygen cylinder factory in kathmandu, nepal on april 29, 2021. (photo by sulav shrestha/xinhua)
under a work plan unveiled by the prime minister's office on thursday, the government plans to receive the cylinders gifted by the chinese government by may 14.
government officials say currently they are in dire need of ventilators, monitors and oxygen cylinders. "the chinese government has pledged to grant 20,000 oxygen cylinders. we are in the process to bring them," gautam said. "we have requested other countries for support but no pledge has been made so far."
he said as around 40 percent of the tests have turned out to be positive, there are certainly hundreds of people at the community level who are infected.
due to the lack of hospital beds, the patients are being treated in open space in different parts of the country, and there are reports of people losing their lives over the acute shortage of treatment facilities.
most parts of nepal, which has a population of around 30 million, has been under a two-week prohibitory order since april 29 as part of the efforts to break the chain of the spread.
"the prohibitory orders alone don't control the spread," dr. gd thakur, former director general at the department of health, told xinhua. "the government should expand the tests and expedite contact tracing."
a health worker is seen at an isolation ward of a hospital in kathmandu, nepal, april 26, 2021. (photo by sulav shrestha/xinhua)
first, they referred to political rallies launched by different parties and social gatherings such as marriages and other occasions. different parties, mainly the ruling communist party of nepal (united marxist leninist) and the communist party of nepal (maoist centre), had been organizing mass rallies in different parts of the country until last month to show their political strength. meanwhile, dozens of people gathered together across the country as april and may mark the marriage season.
nepal reported on thursday a new record of 9,070 coronavirus infections, with 54 patients losing their lives in the last 24 hours.
kathmandu, may 7 (xinhua) -- nepal is witnessing new record highs of covid-19 infections and deaths with each passing day, making it harder for the government and the patients to survive the pandemic.
gautam said checking the entry of people from india has been a problem as they tend to enter from other places even when the control of official border points is tightened.
lastly, a new variant of the coronavirus knowns as b117 spreads faster than the previous ones, and it is hurting nepal as well.
all were new highs at the time.
on april 30, the ministry issued a statement saying the hospitals were running out of beds and there was not an adequate supply of oxygen.
in a video conference on april 27, chinese state councilor and foreign minister wang yi and his counterparts from afghanistan, bangladesh, nepal, pakistan and sri lanka agreed to deepen cooperation as south asian countries were facing a new wave of the covid-19 pandemic.■
a day earlier, 58 people succumbed to the global pandemic and 8,605 new cases were reported. while on tuesday, nepal recorded 55 covid-19-related fatalities and 7,587 new infections. on monday, the figures were 37 and 7,388 respectively.
nepal shares a 1,800-km-long open border with india, where the covid-19 tally surpassed 21 million on thursday as 412,262 new cases were registered across the country in the past 24 hours.
according to officials at the health ministry and public health experts, there are primarily three reasons behind the latest spike.
a team of young volunteers work to prepare an covid-19 isolation center at a new building of bir hospital in kathmandu, nepal, may 5, 2021. (photo by sulav shrestha/xinhua)
with record high numbers in daily infections and fatalities, the outbreak of the second wave of covid-19 in nepal is leaving the country in dire struggle to manage the pandemic. what is the reason behind the latest spike?
second, the porous border with india is a major factor for the covid-19 spread in nepal. officials say nepali citizens are returning home as the pandemic is crippling the southern neighbour.
the first case of covid-19 was detected in the country in january 2020, and now the outbreak of the second wave is leaving the country in dire struggle to manage the pandemic.
