what are the Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal and how to overcome it?

COVID-19 was first reported in Wuhan, China, and after a certain time became a pandemic affecting all the countries around the world. Nepal is a landlocked country which shares a border with two of its gigantic neighbor, i.e. India and China, and has been facing lots of challenges in overcoming this situation. The second wave in India has become a major concern for the neighboring countries, and the effect of COVID-19 in India has created a huge concern for Nepal, since it shares an open border with India, so the impacts are quite visible, as COVID-19 cases are significantly rising every day in Nepal.

This graph shows the total male and female infected data:

 Source: Ministry of health and population, Nepal.

"What is happening in India right now is a horrifying preview of Nepal's future if we cannot contain this latest Covid-19 surge that is claiming more lives by the minute," Nepal’s Red Cross chairman, Dr. Netra Prasad Timsina, said in a statement quoted by CNN.

 

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nepal faces a huge challenge and its impacts can not be overshadowed, so some of the impacts are mention below:

• First and foremost, the public health concern is at its peak, pandemic has resulted in a huge number of death tolls due to lack of ICU beds in the hospitals, shortages of medical supplies and equipment, and lack of testing and monitoring strategies.

• Another impact can be seen in people's livelihood and subsistence. In Nepal, many people are facing a hard time surviving, those who are not in contact with the virus are afraid about it, if not the virus then the financial burden is going to kill them, especially, daily wage workers.

• Nepal's economy is quite dependent on remittance, and there are lots of migrant workers working in the middle east and in India, and as a result of the pandemic, Nepal's migrant workers are facing huge challenges to cope up with the situation, especially when they return Nepal and have no works left to do and no remittance to support their livelihood.

• Impact on the tourism industry has to lead to many consequences, as many service industries are bankrupt and have a huge load on their heads, their only chances of survival are to promote domestic tourism, but as lockdown has been imposed by the government of Nepal, it also doesn't seem to provide an adequate amount of money for their businesses to thrive.

• Psychological effects will also create problems in the coming days. For example, when people listen to the news or any media, and it shows the rising death rates, people panic. Similarly, they don't want to go out and locked themselves up inside their homes, which causes a heavy burden on the mental health of people.

• The economic crisis will create lots of burdens for the government to thrive the economy back on track. The nationwide lockdown has lead many businesses, the service industry and agriculture industry at a peak of bankruptcy, which will add another salt into the wound.

• Another serious impact can be seen in education. For example, many students are learning and taking classes through online mediums, but it is not the case for everyone. Those students who live in a rural area where internet speed is too slow, or even some places where there is no internet at all, have been affected and facing a huge challenge for themselves to cope up with the prevailing situation. 

Despite the huge impacts of COVID-19 in Nepal, some solutions can help to overcome the current situation and they are as follows:

• Initially, the government must implement mass testing, so that the people who are affected can get better treatment before it's too late. The government must make sure to provide health assistance such as oxygen, ICU beds, etc, to those who are not capable of paying their hospital bills.

• Secondly, the government must aware public mostly in rural areas where people still believe that corona doesn't exist. The government must aware of those areas about the precautions such as social distancing, wearing masks, proper healthy diet, and exercises. Similarly, it is also a duty of civilians to cope up with the government's instruction for their own benefits.

• Likewise, another thing that the government can do is to invest in the agricultural sector to create more jobs for the people who are returning back from abroad to their respective villages and towns, and to provide subsidies in fertilizer and insurance for crops and animals, so that it could help the farmers and protect them against losses.

• The tourism industry is one of the major contributors to GDP for Nepal, i.e. around 8% (2019). So, the government can promote domestic tourism. For example, recently committee formed by the ministry of culture, tourism, and civil aviation has passed a provision recommending to the government to implement two-day weekly holidays for government employees to boost domestic tourism.

• Another solution to overcome the pandemic is to encourage small businesses and startups. Some businesses and startup companies are facing lots of challenges to overcome the financial burden, so in this case, the government can provide certain subsidies and financial assistance to help them thrive in their business.

• In the long run, digital technologies can become a major source of job opportunities for people, so everyone in the country should get proper access to the internet and tech gadgets. For example, with technologies, people nowadays are earning through various social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok, etc, by promoting brands and doing other marketing activities. 

• Finally, more efforts should be emphasized on buying vaccines, if that is not possible, then the imposition of lockdowns has to be done on those areas/cities where there is a spike in infections. 

Conclusion:

Covid-19 has become one of the biggest challenges for the world in the 21st century. While many countries with advanced technologies and medical science have somehow dealt with the virus by producing vaccines, however, there are some developing and least developed countries with vulnerable populations and limited resources to respond to the pandemic still suffering huge challenges to overcome the situation.