Cases appear low and sports venues are packed, but protests are on the rise as jobs are lost and personal debt soars
Traffic jams and soaring pollution levels are back. Political leaders are organising mass rallies, far more focused on fighting each other than any virus. If poorer Nepalis are struggling with the dire economic fallout from Covid-19, on the surface, at least, it appears daily life in the capital, Kathmandu, is back to normal.
“It’s as if nothing has happened. The nightclubs are crowded. Schools and colleges are reopening. Sports venues are full. It doesn’t seem like there is any Covid,” says Sameer Mani Dixit, a public health specialist. “It defies logic.”
Almost everyone in this region depends on tourism, but we have not earned a single thing since March
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Written by Pete Pattisson
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/11/its-as-if-theres-no-covid-nepal-defies-pandemic-amid-a-broken-economy under the title “‘It’s as if there’s no Covid’: Nepal defies pandemic amid a broken economy”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
