After August, the infection may increase again

KATHMANDU: JULY 2 – The prohibitory order, issued two months ago to stem the second wave of the Corona epidemic, has been partially eased since public transport was reopened on Tuesday. But nationally, the corona infection rate is still around 20 percent.

In the last two days, it has risen to 26 percent. With adequate testing and vaccine shortages, epidemic control is becoming more challenging as infection rates do not fall as expected. Experts say partial openness in the capital this week could exacerbate the infection.

According to the Ministry of Health, 7,130 people have been tested for the virus through PCR in the last 24 hours, of which 26 percent have been infected. The infection rate was still 26 percent on Wednesday.

According to doctors, every flu, every cough, and every fever can be COVID-19 until proven otherwise, so the community should be tested in time. But that has not happened. The director of Teku Hospital, Sagar Rajbhandari, who has recently retired, says that even when all the members of the family became infected, there was no test. “The infection is deep-rooted and that’s why it hasn’t happened,” he said.

“We have not been able to extend the scope of the test. Contact tracing is extremely weak. The role of the local level in contact tracing is not expected, ‘he says. In recent days, the infection has been more prevalent in State 1, Bagmati, and Gandaki than elsewhere.

Former Director of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Division, Dr. Baburam Marasini argues that it has taken time for the infection to spread. “If we had issued the prohibitory order from mid-April to mid-May, the infection could have come down a lot, but as time went on, it got a chance to spread widely,” he argues. Floods and landslides in different parts of the country have reduced the flow of people due to natural causes, even if the infection does not spread immediately, it may increase again after August, he said.

– From Nagarik Dainik