KATHMANDU, May 12: Minister for Health and Population Hridayesh Tripathi has said that new steps are needed for the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19.

Although it has only 60 beds, the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH) – the only infectious and tropical disease hospital in Nepal – has already admitted 68 patients. More than 90 percent of those admitted to the hospital are in need of oxygen support.

KATHMANDU, April 15: A total of 14 districts across the country including the Kathmandu Valley have been extremely affected by the second wave of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to the government.

LISBON, Portugal, Nov 9: Portugal has entered a state of emergency, with curfews imposed in the areas worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nepal’s response to the threat of coronavirus has been too slow from the very beginning. Come to think of it, the threat of alarm about this deadly virus was raised as early as late December, 2019 when cases appeared in China. By January, it was known to everyone in Nepal and the world about the rapidity of spread, the prospect of recovery and the fatality rate. Within this month, the first case was reported in the US as well as in other countries. By January end, the WHO had declared it a global public health emergency. Nepal too had the first coronavirus case this month. In February, the outbreak spread as far as Italy and Iran and the number of fatalities was fast increasing in these countries. And on March 8, the WHO declared it a global pandemic. What were Nepali authorities doing all this while?

MADRID, March 26: Spain struggled to cope on Wednesday with a mounting coronavirus crisis as its death toll exceeded China’s with another 738 lives lost in a single day, and a third senior government minister was diagnosed with the virus.