Nepal’s COVID-19 death toll is close to 11,000

KATHMANDU: SEPT. 16 – Since the onset of coronavirus infection in Nepal, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 has reached close to 11,000, officials said.

Many of them have been criticized for losing their lives “due to lack of treatment” or “government failure to take timely preventive measures”.

An expert who spoke to the BBC also said that “many of those killed could have been saved.”

He says the government is still not taking appropriate and adequate steps to reduce the transition.

Officials say the rate of infection has dropped in recent days as the number of people receiving the vaccine has increased.

How many deaths in which age group?

According to Dr Krishna Prasad Poudel spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population 10,991 people have died due to COVID-19 in Nepal so far.

The highest number of deaths occurred in the age group of 60 to 69 years.

So far, 2,321 people in that age group have died.

Similarly, the lowest number of deaths is among children up to 9 years of age.

So far, 47 people in that age group have died.

According to the ministry, the age group of the 12 deceased has not been disclosed.

Similarly, 2,160 people aged 70 to 79 years, 2,146 people aged 50 to 59 years, 1,568 people aged 40 to 49 years, 1,447 people above 80 years, 891 people aged 30 to 39 years, 346 people aged 20 to 29 years and 53 people aged 10 to 19 years. They have lost their lives.

This shows that people over the age of 50 have a higher risk of dying from cobwebs, officials say.

‘How many deaths could have been prevented’

While the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Nepal is higher than in many other disasters, a public health expert said that some people could not be saved despite the fact that they could be saved.

Public health expert Baburam Marasini said, “People’s deaths could have been prevented. If we had tightened the border in time, if only the asymptomatic people could have been allowed to enter the border and the remaining people could have been kept in quarantine and isolation, such an infection would not have spread!”

“I also see the possibility that if we had tightened the international border, the death toll would have been much lower than it is now, so it’s a very big debate.”

According to him, many people have been infected in Nepal due to a lack of research on the cause of the infection.

“What has caused thousands of people to be infected? Finding out the causative agent behind it would have made it easier to build a defence system,” he says.

He says there is a need for early research to determine how to prevent it.

He says that in order to prevent the situation from getting treatment in time, it is necessary to stop the infection at the beginning.

Similarly, Marasini understands that there is a tendency to take precautionary measures but not to take any action or take drastic steps for that.

Who is in the main risk group now?

According to officials and experts, people in Nepal, especially those who have not been vaccinated and those under the age of 18, are at high risk of infection.

Looking at the details of the last few weeks, it is said that even at the age of less than 20, the infection has started to increase more than before.

However, spokesperson Poudel said that there was no increase in the number of infections in that age group.

He says, “Immunizations are not immediately available for people under the age of 18, so we need to be even more vigilant. People over the age of 18 are being vaccinated according to the group.”

He said that the vaccine has been initiated for those under 18 years of age and even if an agreement is reached, it is not yet known when it will be available.

Public health expert Marasini said that even if vaccinated, covid does not look like any other disease and everyone is at risk.

He said, “The only way to get rid of measles is to take it seriously. Therefore, it is best to avoid it as much as possible.”

Total infected in Nepal

According to Poudel, 4.581 million people have been tested for coronavirus in Nepal till Wednesday.

Of them, 4 million 57 thousand 3 hundred 83 were tested by PCR method and 5 lakh 24 thousand 4 hundred 85 by antigen method.

Out of the total tested samples, 868,665 samples were found to be infected.

So far, 743,526 people have been infected in Nepal.

Poudel said that the infection rate in Nepal is currently 19.2 per cent of the total PCR tests.

The death toll is 370 per million.

Even now, more than 500 people are actively infected in 11 districts of Nepal.

The total number of actively infected people in Nepal on Wednesday is 26,303.

Of them, 1,624 are in institutional isolation, of which 407 are in ICU and 129 are in the ventilator.

Vaccination in Nepal

Vaccination against covid has been started in Nepal since January 2077 BS.

According to Poudel, a total of 6 million 4 thousand 19 people have been vaccinated in Nepal till Wednesday.

Similarly, 54.15 million people have been vaccinated in full and so far 14.19 million 446 people have been vaccinated.

Poudel said that 17.52 people have been vaccinated in Nepal so far.

-BBC (Nepali)