Government figures show that the number of new cases of COVID-19 infection has been declining in Nepal for the past few weeks. According to data from the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), between 734 and 1,760 new infections have been added daily in the past week.
As many as 734 people were found infected on Sunday, which is the lowest number of cases in a few weeks.
COVID-19 SITUATION IN SOUTH ASIA
According to John Hopkins University in the United States, India has the highest number of people infected and dying from COVID-19 among South Asian countries.
So far, 33,448,163 people have been confirmed infected and 444,838 have died due to COVID-19 in India. According to the University, in the last 28 days, 998,887 people have been infected in India and 10,082 have died from COVID-19.
In India, 14.55 percent of the total population has been fully vaccinated.
In Pakistan, 1,226,008 people have been infected with COVID-19 and 27,246 have died due to the pandemic. In the last 28 days, 98,424 people have been infected and 2,243 have died from COVID-19, while 11.07 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated in Pakistan.
Similarly, as many as 504,491 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Sri Lanka so far and 12,125 people have died due to the virus. In the past four weeks, 114,491 new cases of COVID-19 was detected, while 4,759 deaths occurred due to COVID-19.
The statistics indicate that 50.31 percent of the total population has been fully vaccinated in Sri Lanka.
Similarly, a total of 1542,683 people have been infected with coronavirus and 27,225 have died in Bangladesh. In the last 28 days, 80,685 new COVID-19 cases were found, while 1,924 died due to the virus.
In Bangladesh, 8.87 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, a total of 873,534 people have been confirmed infected in Nepal and 11,048 have died due to COVID-19 so far. As many as 37,133 new cases were detected and 531 people succumbed to the respiratory contagion in the last 28 days in Nepal.
It is estimated that 19.44 percent of the total population in Nepal has been fully vaccinated.
Likewise, 154,487 COVID cases have been confirmed in Afghanistan and 7,186 have died from the virus. In the past four weeks, 1,976 people have been infected and 116 have died.
In South Asia, Afghanistan has the lowest rate of fully vaccinated people at 1.13 percent.
As of Monday, 83,576 people had been infected with COVID-19 and 229 had died in Maldives. In the last 28 days, 3,630 new infections have been found and six people have died. Here, 62.16 percent of the total population has been fully vaccinated.
Of the South Asian countries, Bhutan has the lowest number of confirmed cases at 2,597, with three deaths from COVID-19. In the last four weeks, there have been 12 confirmed cases of infection and zero deaths.
Among the South Asian countries, Bhutan has the highest rate of vaccination at 62.76 percent of the total population.
Although the rate of infection seems to have decreased, the head of the clinical research unit of Shukraraj Tropical and Communicable Diseases Hospital, Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, says people shouldn’t rush to conclude that COVID-19 is coming to an end.
“As the virus continues to mutate, the rate of infection also fluctuates. That’s why we still need to keep a close eye. Infection rates may be lower because of the tendency of people not getting tested despite showing symptoms. In addition, the number of infected people may have decreased with expedited anti-COVID vaccination drive,” he added.
The statistics from Johns Hopkins University show that Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka stand at first, second and third most vaccinated South Asian countries, respectively.
So far, 6.2 million people have received the first dose and more than 5.5 million have received the full dose of anti-COVID vaccines in Nepal, according to MoHP.
