KATHMANDU, Jan 11: Almost 50 percent of COVID-19 patients staying isolated at their homes are not following proper health safety protocols, a government study has found.

In the study conducted among 536 COVID-19 patients, 35 percent participants were found following social distancing measures occasionally, while 12.5 percent participants never followed social distancing measures.

Of the total participants, only 52.5 percent of COVID-19 patients followed proper social distancing measures during home isolation, the study conducted by the Nepal Health Research Council shows.

Public health experts say that the revelations are shocking, and people ignoring health protocols show that there is a huge risk of a second wave of COVID-19 in Nepal. “There is a huge risk of a second wave of transmission, and the number proves it. Earlier, people were afraid and followed all the necessary precautions. But, in the last few months, people have been ignoring the risk of the pandemic,” said Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, a virologist at the Teku Hospital.

“Despite awareness, people have been reluctant to follow health protocols, and the government is to be blamed for this. After a few months of the pandemic, the government showed apathy toward controlling the pandemic. The people did not care, either,” he said.

The report also shows that patients were unable to follow health protocols due to the lack of separate rooms, and toilets and bathrooms, while staying isolated at their homes. Of the surveyed participants, 110 patients (20.5 percent) faced the problems of separate rooms and toilets. They also faced problems to bring groceries, medicines, and had no family support.

Of the 110 patients, 42.8 percent had problems managing separate rooms, 26.1 percent had no separate toilets, while five percent participants had no family support while being infected.

“People have faced difficulties to manage separate rooms and toilets. But, they [patients] opted to stay isolated at their homes rather than going to isolation centers. As the number of patients decreased, the government closed the isolation centers,” Pun said, adding that both the people and the government are to be blamed if Nepal sees a second wave of COVID-19 transmission. 

The report also shows that 59.3 percent of the participants consumed turmeric and Gurjo water while staying isolated at their homes. Likewise, 5.6 percent participants adopted Ayurvedic treatment during isolation.

Likewise, almost 70 percent of COVID-19 patients faced some sort of mental disturbance while staying isolated at home. The study shows 312 (58.2%) participants faced some sort of mental disturbance at some point of time, while 54 (10%) patients had a hard time accepting the event of disease in normal ways most of the time. Likewise, six (1.2%) participants had mental disturbance at some point of time during home isolation.

However, mental health experts say that people were shocked after the pandemic, and the level of fear has already dropped with an increase in awareness. “Earlier, people were panicking as the virus was totally new. The COVID-19 fear among patients has been decreasing,” Jagannath Lamichhane, a mental health expert, told Republica.

 
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