Namrata Sharma

In the last few years preceding the coronavirus pandemic, the social events in Nepal, especially marriage ceremonies, had become humungous affairs. This pandemic has taught us to cut down on such events and make them very personal and family-oriented. We need to follow these healthy practices even after the present coronavirus pandemic is over.
Human beings are social animals. Due to the various rules and regulations, we made throughout the centuries we have restricted ourselves to various norms that religions, cultures and traditions bind us onto. The COVID-19 pandemic has made us realise that there are times when we need to rise above these norms and focus on the need to save ourselves to combat the virus we cannot even see. But people also have their psychological and mental wellbeing which need to be addressed on top of their physical wellbeing. The need of the day is to see how these ceremonies can be held in a safe way so that infections do not increase but the people’s lives also do not get adversely affected.

Unreal situation
This time last year the world, including Nepal, was going through an unreal situation. One country after another was entering a lockdown which started creating a situation of fear, curiosity and uncertainty. People who were never inside their homes for more than a few hours were suddenly holed up for months with looming uncertainties which directly impacted their livelihoods, their social and personal lives and obviously their health. The main hope at that time was the discovery of a vaccine which we all thought would wipe off the corona pandemic once and for all. However, as we have recently discovered, this is not the reality. We now have the vaccines and many have received their first dose of the corona vaccines, but the infection rate is shooting up again.
Nepal has done exemplarily well in vaccinating first the frontline workers and then the elderly and vulnerable people. But the reality is that even when the government is offering free vaccines, initially AstraZeneca vaccine and now the Chinese vaccine, many people are refusing the jabs for various reasons. They have refused to trust the scientists and the medical professionals who have developed these vaccines in order for the people to acquire immunity to the coronavirus and prevent deaths.

The total number of coronavirus cases in Nepal as of 13th April is 280,524, deaths 3,053 and total cases of recovery 274,165. With 496 new cases confirmed on April 12, a new fear has started taking roots among the policy makers and the general population in Nepal. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 4378 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and 727 antigen tests had been done across the nation in 24 hours and 496 were found with the infection. The Ministry also claimed that 138 persons recovered from COVID-19 the same day and the recovery rate is 97.5 per cent. There were 13 deaths from the virus in the 24 hours. There are 3306 active cases in the country as of 12th April.
The reports of hospitals with increasing COVID-19 infections are also raising the alarm bells. While talking with different people, I get the sense that the possibility of either lockdown or further restrictions on travel and movement could bring in a lot of stress and psychological issues. With livelihoods slowly kicking off once again and unrestricted movements to meet family members commencing, people were adjusting to their new life style. Although some people are still wearing masks and maintaining physical distance, many are flouting these norms. This puts all of us at risk. In order to once again contain the coronavirus pandemic, Nepal needs to put in place a proper strategy to address the new waves.

Marriage ceremonies
According to the lunar calendar, observed by the Hindus, the upcoming few months will be the months when marriage ceremonies will be held. The end of Shukra Astha, which was preventing all auspicious events for Hindu practitioners, is on Baishakh 5. Therefore, with the advent of Baishakh, most of the party palaces and hotels have been booked for several pending auspicious ceremonies. Due to the COVID-19 fear, the people have been limiting the invitees, but as these ceremonies require several events which religious people do not want to forgo, gatherings are scheduled to happen throughout the months of Baishakh, Jestha and Asar. As people started booking the venues a few months ago due to the slack in the pandemic, now the party palace owners and the families who have booked such venues are in a dilemma they had not foreseen. How can this be resolved?
Well, the best strategy that comes to mind is to limit the number of people participating in the function to the immediate family members. The venue owners should also not pressurise the consumers to pay more than the number of invitees who attend plus certain minimum charges. During these events, the safety precautions of physical distancing, masking and washing hands and using sanitisers must be observed. There is also a need for more vigorous campaigning by the government and the civil societies to make people use all the safety measures seriously.

(Namrata Sharma is a senior journalist and women rights advocate. namrata1964@yahoo.com Twitter handle: NamrataSharmaP)