Narayan Upadhyay

That Nepal is under pernicious threat of the coronavirus pandemic is a foregone conclusion. The revelation that the country has discovered a new strain of viruses following the second wave of the pandemic has turned the country's pandemic issue on its head.
The presence of a more dangerous variant- the Delta strain, which, according to the experts, carries the ability to transmit among masses rapidly and can kill many, has sent a chill down the spine of our health authorities and common people alike.
While our country is still coping with the dreadful virus, our health professionals have brought to light many lethal variants of the coronavirus. The two lethal variants of the virus- the Delta and the Alpha strain have been found among several patients in Nepal.

New Delta Variant
A recent Health Ministry report revealed that of 48 persons infected, 47 were affected with the Delta variant and one with an Alpha strain of the coronavirus. The genome sequencing of the Delta variant sample of the Nepali patients affirmed that there was a further mutation in the Delta strain. They found the nine cases with the virus K417N mutation, also named- AY.I. They have also discovered this new mutation in ten other countries. 
The World Health Organisation has placed the Delta and Alpha under the virus of concern category, meaning they are lethal ones and are highly transmissible that can kill many.
Unlike the early virus that infected people across the world after it first broke out in Wuhan, the new variants of the virus can infect people of all age groups and are extremely transmissible. The lethality of these viruses has raised our concerns because they can upend our established coronavirus treatment scheme.
Like several nations, Nepal has experienced a quick spike in the coronavirus infection during the second wave when a larger number of people got infected with highly transmissible Delta and Alpha variants that entered Nepal from India and other nations through the people. Over 4000 people have so far died and several thousand got infected and about 50 persons are dying of COVID symptoms ever since the second wave of the pandemic had hit the country about two months ago. The new strains of virus-Delta, Alpha and Kappa are believed to be behind the rise in death and infection toll. Because of the deadly nature of the new variants, Nepal is still not out of woods, which is reflected in daily infection and death rates.
With the sharp rise in infection rate, the higher number of infected people required hospital care that sent our health facilities into overdrive. Many infected ones that included people of all ages required a high level of oxygen support, care and hospitalisation at high dependency and intensive care units.
A larger number of patients overwhelmed the efficiency of our hospitals and health centres. They could not deal with the enormous inflow of patients. Many hospitals showed a weakness to afford needful treatment to the infected ones. As a result, many sick people failed to receive timely treatment leading to their deaths.
The hospitals across the country struggled with the shortage of oxygen, the most essential element in treating the COVID-19 patients during the second wave. Many infected people encountered a sudden drop in oxygen level in their lungs or developed pneumonia, calling for immediate access to hospitals. However, hospitals ran out of oxygen causing further trauma and troubles to the victims. Sometimes relatives of the sick made a beeline to a good deal of oxygen-producing factories, as they could not bear the thought of relatives dying of oxygen shortage.
As the infection and death rate soared to a new high, the authorities had no option but to impose stricter prohibitory orders across the nation to break the virus chain. The initial scenario during the second wave saw the death toll crossing over two hundred per day, while the infection rate went up to over 3000 every day. The government has relaxed the restrictive orders, yet the peril of contagion is still high across the country. People thus need to pursue health safety protocols so that the virus could spread.
In the meantime, acute health problems greeted several of the affected patients, requiring them urgent hospital cares. As if the depletion in oxygen level was not enough, they had to tackle pneumonia or the weakening of their lungs and other body organs. Apart from battling a long spell of coughing, shortness of breath, body pain, nausea, diarrhoea, loss of taste and smell, many of the recuperated patients confronted post-COVID complications that further required specialist health cares and treatment. A few patients who had recovered from the severity of the pandemic had died owing to such complications. Experts claim the coronavirus infection is worse than thought because it can lead to fatal damage to many organs that can paralyse or kill a patient.

Black Fungus
Hospitals also announced that a few patients suffered from black fungus or mucormycosis, the disease that attacks a few patient's nasal cavities, sinus, eyes and inner organs. The black fungus infects the coronavirus infected patients with co-morbidities and who take steroids to avoid inflammation of organs while they undergo coronavirus treatment.
 A diabetic or persons having underlying health conditions are at a higher risk of being afflicted with the malignant black fungus if they are administered steroids. Since steroids are known for suppressing the immune system, the patients who receive them as part of treatment are often in danger of getting black fungus that is found in dirty places and some are also found in the air.
In India, over nine thousand coronavirus patients died of mucormycosis while several of the affected lost their eyes, jaws and gripped by deformities. If left untreated, the disease is potent to kill. To add to more misery, many were diagnosed with suffering from other types of fungus- the white fungus, green fungus and a few others.

Third Wave
The health pundits and scientists have predicted, given the lacklustre control mechanism and poor understanding among its populace, Nepal may experience the third swing of the pandemic. The third wave will carry more crises as it is said to put children and youngsters at high risks. The health authorities have advised the health centres and workers to remain prepared to face the third wave of the pandemic, which would be 'deadlier than the second one' and asked the health centres to separate some portion of beds for sick children. Also true is the fact that the pandemic virus can mutate further during the next wave threatening to upend our existing treatment measures.
Though many experts maintain that there is no certainty that the third wave would put the children and youngsters at higher risk, they have advised it would be better to keep them protected from the infection because the infection of the more nocuous virus during the third wave may increase fatalities among children. Once the serious form of the coronavirus affects children, they are likely to develop another health complication--Multisystem Inflammation Symptoms In Children (MIS-C). Children with COVID may suffer from inflammation in many internal organs such as hearts, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs that pose additional threats to children. This condition can be serious and even deadly.
With the growing threats, it would be prudent for the public and health authorities to remain aware of precautionary and protective measures for keeping the virus at bay. Social distancing, avoiding crowds or crowded places, sanitising and washing hands and wearing face masks have provided proven protection from the coronavirus infection.

Vaccines Ensure Safety
Besides, the people must opt for immunisation with coronavirus shots because the vaccine has turned out a prime factor for health safety. The jabs will ramp up the people's immune system against pernicious contagion. According to recent media reports, the people who have taken the double shots have not fallen ill seriously from the coronavirus. Some even say that the mortality rate among the people with the two-dose of the vaccine is non-existent.
The persons receiving the single jab have shown resilience against the illness. In our country, many vaccines have shown a greater potency against many strains of coronavirus. This is the reason the people these days have pushed hard the government for providing them with life-saving shots.
As the risk of coronavirus keeps on swelling, vaccination appears to be the most feasible choice to deal with the virulent disease. Strengthening the people's immune system would help settle all the uncertainties a country has confronted owing to the onset of the dreaded pandemic. 
Vaccination would without doubt bring our life to normalcy. Likewise, our government would find it easy to resume socio-economic and other day-to-day activities. Businesses, tourism activities, transportation, schools and colleges can resume and run normally. In short, to bring the people and country to the pre-COVID-19 time, vaccination of the entire population in a phase-wise manner is the only way. Our government and health authorities must work in unison to import vaccines as early as possible. When the people of all ages get jabs in time, it would allow them and the country to get out of the fatal clutches of the coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus Variants

The WHO has renamed the multiple different strains of COVID-19 circulating around the world to make them easier to understand.
Under the changes, the four most concerning variants take on the first four letters of the Greek alphabet — Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta.
Those were previously known as the UK variant, the South African variant, the Brazilian variant and the Indian variant.
Here is a quick guide to some of the variants you are likely to hear about, ranked in terms of relevance to Australia.

Delta: Indian Variant
The Delta variant is the most recently designated variant of concern, as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO).
That means it is one of the four variants most concerning to global health authorities because it's believed to show:
Increased transmissibility or detrimental change in epidemiology
Increased virulence or change in disease presentation
Decreased effectiveness of prevention and control measures
It was first detected in India in October last year, and is considered highly contagious.
UK authorities have estimated it's 40 per cent more transmissible than an earlier variant that sent Britain into lockdown at the start of the year.
It's been detected in one of two active clusters in Victoria but its source has not been conclusively found.
Its other names include B.1.617.2 and the Indian variant — although there's more than one of those.

Kappa: Other Indian variant
The Kappa variant is the one behind most of the cases in Victoria.
It likely entered the Victorian community via a man who became infected in hotel quarantine in Adelaide before travelling to Victoria.
It was also first detected in India, but unlike the Delta variant it's not listed as a variant of concern.
Instead, the WHO treats it as a variant of interest. However, it is still highly contagious and potentially deadly.
"[It] is starting to show up in places where normally it would be less likely," Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said of the strain.
Its other name is very similar to the Delta variant: B.1.617.1.
That's because they originated from the same strain: B.1.617

Alpha: the UK Variant
The name of this strain, Alpha, reflects the fact it was the first to be designated a variant of concern by the WHO.
It was first detected in September 2020 and was designated a strain of particular concern in December.
It was estimated to be at least 50 per cent more transmissible than the first detected strains of COVID-19.
It was behind the UK lockdown in January. However, it is no longer the most dominant strain there — the Delta variant is.
It's been known as the UK variant, the Kent variant and B.1.1.7.

Beta: S. African Variant
The South African variant, now known as the Beta variant, is the oldest of the COVID-19 variants of concern, having been first detected in May 2020, more than a year ago. Also known as B.1.351, it was first detected in South Africa.
According to the US Centres For Disease Control, it shares some of the same mutations as the Alpha strain.

Gamma: Brazil Variant
This strain, the last of the four listed as a variant of concern by the WHO, was first detected in Japan, in travellers from Brazil.
The strain has raised concerns because it may have been responsible for a surge in cases in Manaus, Brazil, where the population is thought to have achieved herd immunity.
The strain is also known as P1 and was first detected in November 2020.
(Health Digest)

(Deputy Executive Editor at TRN, Upadhyay writes on contemporary issues)