Nepal isn’t only Mount Everest

While the world’s attention has been focused on India as the country battles a deadly second wave of Covid-19, the situation is just as dire in neighbouring Nepal. This has prompted the United Nation’s Health chief to express concerns about the country’s unfolding crisis.

The alarming situation in India has been featured in newspapers across the globe but the western media’s concern about Nepal’s deadly second wave is only limited to Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak.

The news of the devastating pandemic in Nepal was reported in international media mostly after the Covid-19 cases were detected on Mount Everest. Recently, there was a report that a coronavirus outbreak on Mount Everest has infected at least 100 climbers and support staff.

If there were no cases in Mount Everest, I doubt Nepal’s Covid-19 crisis would get as much attention as now. Though Nepal is a small country, the pandemic situation is worsening when compared to India. Nepal is unprepared and more hapless than its neighbour, India.

The situation in Nepal is so devastating that the prime minister of the country wrote an opinion in one of the newspapers of London appealing to the international community for help. The international community and media should know that only climbers of Everest are not infected by the Covid-19 but the entire country is reeling under the second wave.

Not only Nepal, but the second wave is also fast engulfing the countries around India. As the coronavirus infection rises, dozens of countries are facing a severe shortage of oxygen. According to a report by the Bureau of Investigative journalism, nineteen countries around the world are at risk as the demand for oxygen has skyrocketed since March.

India has banned the export of oxygen and its neighbours, most of whom rely on India for oxygen, are at great risk.

Nepal now needs more than 100 times as much oxygen as it required in March, according to the Bureau’s report. The Himalayan country of more than 28 million is now seeing more infections per million than India. The test positivity rate has climbed to 45%.

The surge in cases has pushed Nepal’s fragile health care system to the breaking point. Hospitals are flooded with Covid-19 patients and they do not have enough ventilators, oxygen or even doctors. Many patients have lost their lives due to the lack of oxygen— the country has asked climbers to bring back their oxygen canisters instead of abandoning them on the mountain.

Nepal initiated its vaccination campaign in January and has vaccinated 1.9 million people. The country had been dependent on India for vaccines, liquid oxygen, and other medical supplies. It ordered two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from India earlier this year but only half the quantity was delivered as India stopped its export citing its growing need.

China and the US are responding to Nepal’s crisis. China recently donated 400 oxygen cylinders, 160 oxygen concentrators, and 10 ventilators. It has also donated 8,00,000 doses of the Chinese VeroCell vaccine. The US Agency for International Development announced emergency assistance to help Nepal fight its devastating second-wave surge.

The country now is on the brink of an unprecedented disaster. On Monday, 7,425 covid infections and 185 deaths were recorded. Every day, the mortality rate due to coronavirus continues to spike. The vaccination rate is very low, only 7.2% of the population has been given the first dose. Nepal urgently needs vaccines and medicines from foreign donors, else the cataclysm will engulf the country.

(The writer is an author and businessman based in Nepal)