By Aashish Mishra

Kathmandu, Mar. 31: The COVID-19 pandemic is surging around the world and the World Health Organisation has expressly asked the world’s governments to keep their populations under lockdown and chase down every suspected case for testing and treating while isolating those who test positive.
Nepal’s own lockdown, initially declared for one week, was extended on Sunday and will now remain in place till midnight of April 7. But do people appreciate this extension? Will they and can they respect it if it goes for long? The short answer seems to be ‘no’.
Ujjwol Nakarmi, a carpenter, explained why he couldn’t stay indoors for much longer. “Every day that my shop remains closed, I lose money. My savings aren’t going to last forever. I need to be earning money to support my family.”
Asked if he wasn’t afraid of the virus, he replied, “The virus may or may not get me but poverty sure will.” Nakarmi is just one of many daily-wage workers who don’t have the luxury of putting health before money.
Kumar Aryal is a porter who said he would respect the lockdown for one more week but then would start sneaking out if it got extended again. “My wife and children have to eat. It’s no good if we stay safe from the virus but die of hunger.”
But the lockdown has left the streets deserted meaning labourers like Aryal wouldn’t find work even if they ventured out. To this, he said, “I see many houses that were being demolished, but had to stop because of the lockdown. I can gather a few friends and work in such sites to earn a few rupees.”
Aryal would stay home if he could. “But my financial situation will force me to go out, regardless of the COVID-19 contagion,” he said.
While Nakarmi and Aryal dislike the lockdown because of its financial implications on their lives, others, who don’t have to worry about money as much, are also developing a distaste for the current situation. “It is getting difficult to stay confined to one’s house,” said Bibhushi Singh Tuladhar. She, by her own account, leads a comfortable life. She works at an education consultancy that has offered her ‘work from home’ privileges and a guaranteed monthly salary. Yet, she said that she wouldn’t be able to stay home for much longer.
“It is more than about money,” she said, “This lockdown has put our entire life on hold. We haven’t had festivals, we haven’t had occasions, we haven’t been able to visit relatives.” She listed down all the things in her life that had been affected by the nationwide closure.
The lockdown can also adversely affect our mental health, according to Kusum Baral, who is a psychologist based in Kaski. “People feel scared and powerless and they feel uncertain about their future. This will make them anxious and trigger panic,” she said, adding, “Also, staying at home over a long period of time will make people feel trapped and claustrophobic and all they will want to do is get out.”
It seems that this claustrophobia has already begun to set in for Tuladhar whose parents informed that their daughter was growing more annoyed and irritable.“We think the government should not extend the lockdown beyond April 7. They can limit public movement and gatherings and international flights and borders should remain closed, but the country should open,” they said.
Baral opined that this ‘lockdown fatigue’ would only increase as the days passed by and could lead to people wanting to go out, despite risk of infection.