KATHMANDU, Sept 15: A research conducted by Consortium Nepal has shown that young children are at a greater risk of COVID-19. The two-month long study indicates that the pandemic has affected the growth and capacity development of children in Nepal. 

The research also shows that as many as 75 percent of children have no access to internet services in order to attend online classes. According to Dipesh Ghimire, lead researcher of the study, the lack of children-friendly quarantine and isolation centers in hospitals has also affected the children who tested positive for COVID-19. Many local units have also provided education, food and security to children who lost their parents to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

According to the study, as many as 67 children have succumbed to COVID-19 in Nepal, so far. Similarly, 200 children lost both of their parents to COVID-19 while 1,200 children lost one of them. Kiran Thapa, president of Consortium Nepal said that the government has not introduced any laws for the safety and treatment of children. He said that the government has not done anything to provide nutritious food to the children of poor families, either.  

The surge of the pandemic led schools to shut down and halt physical attendance in classes, depriving students of education. A huge gap was found between students who had access to the internet and those who did not. Due to COVID-19, a large number of students also forfeited their schools as well as education. “There is a need to make plans by all three levels of the government to send childrens to schools again, '' Thapa said. The government should implement the decision to construct child-friendly hospitals by securing 20 percent of the total beds for children, he added.

 
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