WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 104 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.2 C 10.5 C Monday, June 08, 2020 | 26-02-2077 Dipayal Jomsom Most Covid victims have died untested, with infections detected after death Doctors are questioning why they weren’t tested earlier since most of them had been living in quarantine, and why they didn’t receive proper medical attention. ARJUN POUDEL tion could’ve made worse. KATHMANDU, JUNE 7 However, the cause of death cannot be firmly established without an Of the 13 people who’ve died in Nepal autopsy and the government has not of the coronavirus as of Sunday, a performed autopsies on any of the majority have tested positive for deceased. According to the Health Covid-19 only after their deaths, raising Ministry’s guidelines, it considers any questions behind their causes of death death of a person with a coronavirus and why they were not tested earlier. infection as a Covid-related death. Some have even tested positive a Without establishing the cause of week after their death, when their death, it is impossible to know the bodies had already been cremated by Covid-19 actual mortality rate in the their families. Samples from a 70-year- country, say doctors. old man who died on May 17 at the The government is also not conduct- National Medical College’s teaching ing tests on all those in quarantine, hospital in Birgunj tested positive for which is where most people were liv- Covid-19 on May 25. ing when they died. Had they been Among the 13, a 29-year-old woman tested, perhaps their deaths could’ve from Sindhupalchok tested positive been prevented, say doctors. POST PHOTO: DEEPAK KC three days after death; a 25-year-old “If the authorities had performed Vendors sell vegetables by the roadside in New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, on Sunday. Traders have said that a strict lockdown is no more sustainable. man from Banke died in quarantine tests earlier, most of the deceased at Narainapur and tested positive would have been diagnosed before after death; a 35-year-old man from their deaths,” Dr Anup Bastola, Arghakhanchi died on May 23 but test- spokesperson for the Sukraraj ed positive only on May 28; a 35-year- Tropical and Infectious Disease old man from Dailekh died in quaran- Hospital, told the Post. “Due to failure As India, China talk to resolve border stand-off, tine on May 30 and tested positive to collect specimens and conduct tests, after death; a 28-year-old man from people are dying in quarantine.” Surkhet, who died on June 4, tested According to officials, they don’t positive for Covid-19 after death; a have the capacity to test all of the analysts question when Delhi will speak to Nepal 45-year-old man from Palpa, who died thousands in quarantine. There aren’t on June 2, tested positive on June 4; enough rapid testing kits and only 21 and a 55-year-old woman from laboratories across the country can The Modi government has said that dates for talks with Kathmandu will be worked out after Covid-19 Dhangadhi tested positive after death. perform polymerase chain reaction Most of the 13 deaths have been tests, which can now take up to a week crisis while recently holding dialogue with Beijing over its boundary dispute. attributed to respiratory ailments like due to the backlog. pneumonia, tuberculosis and asthma, The Health Ministry’s policy is to It has been a month since India long-standing differences in eastern which the government believes is a only conduct PCR tests on those who opened a road link via Lipulekh, Ladakh over the Line of Actual result of Covid-19 complications. display symptoms of Covid-19. prompting Nepal to formally lodge its Control. The current tensions arose According to Dr Roshan Pokhrel, Doctors say that the condition of objection and then release a new polit- after reports of skirmishes between chief specialist at the Health Ministry, quarantine facilities themselves is ical map that includes Lipulekh, soldiers from both sides, resulting in most of the deceased had underlying also partly to blame for the fatalities. Kalapani and Limipiyadhura as parts injury. conditions that the coronavirus infec- >> Continued on page 5 of the Nepali territory. In the past too, soldiers from both Responding to Kathmandu’s initial the countries have crossed paths, only objection, Delhi had acknowledged to retreat later. the need for dialogue but said that This time around, New Delhi got dates for talks would only be finalised alarmed after reports that Chinese after the Covid-19 emergency was soldiers had made multiple intru- dealt with. sions. But if Delhi can hold talks with >> Continued on page 5 Beijing during the pandemic, it can also do so with Kathmandu, say political party leaders and foreign policy experts. “It looks like China is the pri- PHOTO COURTESY: @PM_NEPAL ority for India at the moment due Nepal has sought talks with India at the foreign secretary level or higher political level. to the seriousness of the dispute but it also shows that talks can ANIL GIRI sides agreeing to peacefully resolve the be held in any situation,” said KATHMANDU, JUNE 7 situation. Nepal, meanwhile, has been Madhu Raman Acharya, a for- asking India to sit for talks since mer ambassador and foreign sec- India and China on Saturday held November, with New Delhi most retary. “India needs to engage talks to resolve the month-long border recently saying that it’ll sit for talks with Nepal.” POST PHOTO stand-off in eastern Ladakh, with both once the Covid-19 pandemic is over. India and China have Experts have pointed to the need to improve quarantine facilities. C M Y K MONDAY, JUNE 08, 2020 | 02 MEDLEY Inside the Post Quote of the day A India, China talk to resolve border stand-off, analysts question National when Delhi will speak to Nepal, Page 1 After marathon meetings for the last four days, leaders of the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal and Samajbadi Party Nepal agreed to have three chairpersons to lead the unified Janata Samajbadi Party, and the new party was registered with the “It looks like China is the priority for India Election Commission on Sunday. at the moment due to the seriousness of the dispute but it also shows that talks Opinion The depiction of empty landscapes masks the local realities of the people and can be held in any situation. India needs ignores the historical, political and social context that has caused Nepali land to remain the way it is today. to engage with Nepal.” Madhu Raman Acharya, former diplomat and government Money secretary, on Nepal-India border dispute. China’s exports and imports fell in May as the economic slowdown abroad started to take its toll, and after a surprise jump driven by increased demand for anti-ep- idemic supplies, official data showed on Sunday. Most read online World Global cases of the novel coronavirus have neared 7 million, as case numbers Lockdown forces a family into destitution surge in Brazil and India, according to a Reuters tally. About 30 percent of those cases, or 2 million infections, are in the United States, though the fastest growing The eldest daughter of Manan Thakur is bed-ridden. She is running a high outbreak is in Latin America, which accounts for roughly 16 percent of all cases. fever. Thakur doesn’t have money even to buy her a cetamol. “There is no food in my home,” said Thakur, a barber by profession who has been running a shop in Kathmandu for the last 30 years. Culture & Arts To help you pick some of the best films ever made, the Post has curated a special Number of Covid-19 deaths rises to 13; 323 new list of recommendations from some of Nepal’s most acclaimed filmmakers. These films suggested by the filmmakers hold a special place in their hearts. cases confirmed on Saturday The number of deaths due to Covid-19 in Nepal has reached 13 after swab sam- ples of two persons who died on Wednesday and Friday tested positive for the News Quiz coronavirus. Private schools to lobby government to resume classes next month 1. Spring paddy crops in Chitwan d. 323 have been affected by which of Private schools are preparing to lobby the government to allow them to enrol POST PHOTO the following diseases? 3. Which day is celebrated as the students later this month and resume classes in areas with low Covid-19 infec- A farmer picks tomatoes at a farm in Kathmandu Valley. a. Brown spot World Food Safety Day? tion rates from next month. Representatives from the Higher Institutions and b. Neck blast a. June 7 Secondary Schools’ Association Nepal have prepared a list of demands on the c. Root rots b. July 7 reopening of schools and colleges. d. Eyespot c. August 7 d. May 7 On this day in history Authorities plan to rescue Nepalis stranded abroad. 4. Which country has removed But no one knows who will pay for it months of its Covid-19 data Govt to sign urea deal Last month, when the government made public its economic status, it was from its government website? worried because workers’ remittance had gone into the tailspin. It counted the a. America KATHMANDU - As farmers reel under the double impact of possible bad harvest damage inflicted by falling remittance but did not bother to talk about the b.