How Government Defied Science and Disregarded Experts As Covid-19 Spread
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WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 180 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.0 C 15.8 C Sunday, August 23, 2020 | 07-05-2077 Dipayal Jumla How government defied science and disregarded experts as Covid-19 spread Even after 146 deaths and over 31,000 cases, there’s no specialist-led national committee as the Oli administration continues to take decisions on ad-hoc basis. ARJUN POUDEL country, the Oli administration is at KATHMANDU, AUG 22 its wit’s end. Public health experts and even On June 18, when Nepal’s number of some ministers admit that the Covid- Covid-19 cases soared to 7,848 and the 19 surge is also due to the govern- death toll reached 22, Prime Minister ment’s disregard for experts’ warn- KP Sharma Oli was downplaying the ings and Oli’s defiance of science, threat of the coronavirus and ped- facts and truth. dling dubious cures that have no med- Dr Baburam Marasini, former ical standing. director at the Epidemiology and At the National Assembly, Oli deliv- Disease Control Division, said the Oli ered a long lecture, trivialising Covid- government has shown an uncanny 19, a disease that has brought the loathing of experts even when the world to its knees. country is faced with an emergency. “Corona is like the flu,” said Oli. If “Instead of paying attention to contracted, one should sneeze, drink experts’ advice and implementing hot water and drive the virus away.” their suggestions, authorities were Three months before Oli’s claims, rather bent on prosecuting them,” the World Health Organisation on Marasini told the Post. POST PHOTO: HEMANTA SHRESTHA March 11 had declared Covid-19 a pan- “Warnings against Dr Sundarmani Children practise cycling in Patan, Lalitpur on Saturday. Schools have been shut since April in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. demic. There were over 118,000 coro- Dixit of legal action when he called navirus cases in over 110 countries for expanding tests and action against and territories around the world and Dr Sher Bahadur Pun are just a few the UN health agency warned that examples.” there was sustained risk of further Seven months after the first Covid- global spread. 19 case was detected, the Oli govern- As pandemic slows down economic activities, That, however, was not the first ment has not set up a single commit- time Oli was making light of the dead- tee that is led by an expert as the ly virus that has now killed 803,808 national coordinator. people across the world and infected The Covid-19 Crisis Management construction sector hits a brick wall 23,152,472. Committee, which is tasked with fight- The prime minister, however, had ing the virus, does not have a single made it a habit of using his bully pul- individual with expertise on health-re- Worker shortage, low factory output and an uncertain future put brakes on the booming construction industry. pit to make unsubstantiated claims lated issues. like Nepalis have strong immunity The organisational structure of the least six trips supplying construction Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, an and that drinking turmeric water committee, led by Defence Minister materials. economist and former vice-chairman could cure the disease. Ishwar Pokhrel, has the prime “Now, there are orders only sporad- of the National Planning Commission, Today, when the number of minister at the top and is filled with ically,” said Awale. said that the Covid-19 impact on the Covid-19 deaths has reached 146, with politicians. Nepal’s construction sector country was worse-than-expected and 31,117 positive cases reported in the >> Continued on page 2 witnessed a double digit growth for has hit the construction industry very two consecutive years following the hard. reconstruction drive after the 2015 “It is too early to estimate the full earthquake. In the previous fiscal year financial impact of the crisis. But less 2018-19 too, the sector saw a robust 8 capital expenditure by the govern- percent growth, taking the annual ment and investment in projects by output of the construction sector to the private sector will have its first over Rs 232 billion, according to the impact on employment and will even- Central Bureau of Statistics. tually hit consumption,” Pokharel The coronavirus outbreak, however, told the Post. has put the brakes on the growth >> Continued on page 2 momentum. According to the Bureau, the construction sector will be one POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI of the worst hit by the Covid-19 According to statistics, construction sector’s growth is headed for negative territory. pandemic and its growth is expected to plunge into negative KRISHANA PRASAIN been few orders for the sand and territory, at -0.31 percent in the KATHMANDU, AUG 22 bricks that he supplies. His depot has fiscal year 2019-20 that ended in remained closed since March. mid-July. Buddha Awale, a construction materi- Since the last week of July, The financial stress upon the al supplier in Dhobighat, Lalitpur, has every morning, he opened his depot construction sector is expected been spending his days at home even at 11 and waited for buyers. There to worsen over the current fiscal after the lockdown was lifted in the were none. Before the lockdown, his year, according to economists POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI third week of July. There have only pick-up truck was busy, doing at and industry executives. Experts have called for stepping up measures to contain the virus spread. C M Y K SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2020 | 02 NATIONAL Mayor plans to build isolation centres, but no one knows when Experts say isolation centres are urgently needed to prevent the disease from getting transmitted in the community, as home isolation is not possible in a densely populated city. ANUP OJHA Mayor Shakya has always been pital has been testing only 100 people KATHMANDU, AUG 22 reluctant to establish even quarantine per day. centres in the city. He has been blam- “Due to lack of transportation facil- Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s ing the provincial government for let- ities and strict monitoring, very few Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya, who also ting people from outside enter into the people are coming to the hospital,” leads the Valley’s mayor forum, Valley without restrictions. said Pun. He said that prohibitory announced plans to build integrated orders don’t work, unless the contract isolation centres to accommodate tracing and testing is done swiftly. 5,000 people, on August 10. “There is a danger of transmission Nearly two weeks after his Fewer people are of the disease within the family as announcement, as the number of visiting hospitals for many families share a building in Covid-19 cases steadily rises in the Kathmandu,” said Pun. That’s why city, no one knows where the isolation Covid-19 with the separate centres are needed to isolate centres will be built and when, though the infected, he added. POST PHOTO: KESHAV THAPA there has been a lot of chatter about it start of restrictions. When the Post contacted the city A monkey swims in the pond on the premises of Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu. in the news and on social media. office’s chief executive City Ek Shakya, even on Tuesday, the day Narayan Aryal to ask about the inte- before the three chief district officers However, looking at the present grated isolation centre the mayor has of the valley announced restrictions growth in Covid-19 cases in the valley, been talking about, he said city offi- on public mobility, reiterated his experts say it’s become necessary to cials have been consulting with the plans to build the 5,000-bed-isolation establish the isolation centres soon. federal government and the Cabinet As pandemic slows down ... wards by working with the central, Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, a virologist at has already approved the plan. federal and local governments inside the Teku-based Sukraraj Tropical and “According to our estimate, around >> Continued from page 1 stay home.” brink of collapse. ” the Valley within a week. According to Infectious Disease Hospital, said that 500 people, including traffic police and For the construction sector, January From mid-February to the end of The four-month-long lockdown the municipal public health division in the absence of isolation centres, the Nepal Police personnel, are in home to May are considered good business last fiscal year, only 15 to 20 percent of forced 61 percent of businesses to of the city, as of Thursday 1,411 people disease will get more pervasive in the isolation in the city,” Aryal said. He months—just after the winter season construction work was taking place. close down completely, causing a dire have been infected with Covid-19 in community, even when restrictions on said setting up integrated isolation and before monsoon. The first Covid- “We have estimated that the sector effect on the economy by rendering the metropolis. mobility are enforced. centres was now possible as the gov- 19 case was detected in Nepal in alone lost around Rs65 billion,” Singh tens of thousands of people jobless “The mayor announced that the iso- The hospital’s data shows that since ernment hiked the money allocated January. On March 24, the country told the Post. and disrupting the production and lation centres will be established near- the local authorities announced the for each isolation bed from Rs 175 to went into lockdown, which lasted Consumption is considered the key supply chain, according to a survey of ly two weeks ago, but the plans haven’t prohibitory order on Thursday, the Rs 1,800.