Since March 24th, Nepal has been under lockdown to help battle the pandemic, and up until May 29th, the confirmed cases were below 1,000 according the the World Health Organization. Since then, cases have spiked to over 17,000.
Despite the considerable surge, the fatalities have been below baseline figures globally, with only 38 deaths so far. One speculative reason behind this figure is that the confirmed cases have been in younger individuals, who have a higher chance at a better outcome than the older populations. The increases have been attributed to Nepalis who are finally returning home from working abroad, and not, as suspected, from the protests that took place in early June.
As of July 14th, Nepal had conducted nearly 290,000 tests and has placed 23,470 people currently in quarantine, according to the Nepali government. According to the Health Ministry, 60.53 percent of the total cases have recovered and returned home.
Author: Camryn Thomas