Nepal has entered the third week of lockdown from today (Wednesday). The other day the government decided to extend the nationwide lockdown period by another one week till April 15 in a move to slow down the infection of COVID-19 that has morphed into the second stage. The country has enforced an array of preventive measures to rein in the deadly virus from the very beginning. But, unfortunately, the virus transmitted to the local people from the one who came from abroad. This has set off alarm bells, demanding more stringent measures to avoid the impending medical emergency in the country. As the coronavirus has the propensity to spread at a tremendous rate if the infected persons mingle with other people, stopping or breaking the movements of people in hordes is the best option to contain the contagion. The extension of the lockdown needs to be viewed against this background.
The lockdown is the most viable step to implement social- and physical distancing. This step is based on the experiences of the nations that are tackling the COVID-19 breakout. The virus has now spread to most of the nations across the globe. Stay-at-home orders have been strictly enforced in the Western nations roiled by the scourge of the pandemic. For the country like Nepal that lacks modern health facilities on par with the industrial nations, there is no option but to resort to rigorous preventive steps such as lockdown, social distancing and cessation of the movements of people from abroad. As the people do not step out of their home, there is little chance of the virus’s transmission, thereby saving the lives of people.
The government has flung itself into the curative measures after COVID-19 cases began to surface in the country. It accelerated the establishment of quarantine and isolation centres and ICU wards, and procurement of essential medical equipment such as testing kits and PPE. Now the rapid testing facility has been expanded to all seven states. As of Monday, 1,166 people were in quarantines and 131 in isolation wards across the country. It is a matter of satisfaction that the Federal Government has assigned its ministers to coordinate with the State governments with regard to the detection and treatment of COVID-19 cases. It is only with the affective coordination and cooperation among the government agencies and concerned stakeholders that the pandemic can be stanched before it raises its ugly tentacles.
In yet another measure, the Ministry of Home Affairs has launched an official site to deliver and disseminate up to date information and data related to COVID-19 and its impact across the country. According to the news report of this daily, the ministry has set up ‘COVID-19 Integrated Information and Quarantine Monitoring System,’ that provides virus-related information in an integrated manner. The officials at the National Emergency Operation Centres running in 75 districts out of 77 can directly upload information to the site by using separate login and user names. The digital monitoring system will come in handy in disseminating factual and authentic information as well as the country’s official data to the international community. Likewise, the ministry has also developed a separate application called Cobuddy to track every record of those kept in the isolation wards and quarantines. The new site and application need to be aptly utilised to assess the real situation on the ground, thereby averting the possible outbreak of the pandemic.