Focused COVID-19 Media Monitoring, Nepal - ReliefWeb

Focused COVID-19 Media Monitoring, Nepal

Focused COVID-19 Media Monitoring Nepal1
                                                                             -Sharpening the COVID-19 Response through Communications Intelligence

Date: December 2, 2021
Kathmandu, Nepal

                                                          EMERGING THEME(S)

     •   Nepal reported 285 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths on December 1
     •   Nepal has not held any serious discussion on preventive measure to tackle the looming threat of Omicron as Health
         Ministry spokesperson and secretary are in Geneva; Health Ministry has requested Nepali citizens not to travel abroad
         unless necessary
     •   Possible to identify new variant of COVID-19 in Nepal, according to National Public Health Laboratory medical
         technologist
     •   Omicron has brought the dangers of vaccine inequity into sharp focus as the world grapples at ways to contain its
         spread
     •   Omicron was detected in Netherlands days before South Africa alerted the world about it; Omicron detected in 19
         countries as of November 30, 22 countries on December 1

 1This intelligence is tracked through manually monitoring national print, digital and online media through a representative sample selection,
 and consultations with media persons and media influencers.

 WHE Communications Intelligence                                                                                                                 2

ISSUE(S) IN FOCUS

Nepal recorded 285 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, pushing the nationwide tally to 821,651, while the death
toll climbed to 11,529 with three fatalities on December 1. Nepal's COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.7 per cent, the fatality
rate at 1.4 per cent, while the active COVID-19 case count currently is 6,954.2

Despite the growing risk of spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, officials in Nepal have not held any serious discussion
about the measures required to lessen the risks. Officials at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) said that no meeting
has been convened, as Secretary for Health and Population Dr Roshan Pokhrel and Spokesperson for MoHP Dr Krishna
Prasad Paudel are in Geneva, Switzerland to take part in the World Health Assembly. Dr Paudel is also the director at
Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, which is responsible for taking measures to contain possible spread of infections.
“Don’t ask me anything about the risks of the new variant, which is said to be highly contagious, as no discussion had been
held on this issue,” an official at MoHP said asking not to be named. “Due to the absence of the secretary and spokesperson,
MoHP has not yet called a meeting of the public health experts for discussion.” 3
The government has decided to take necessary precautions to prevent the entry of the new variant of COVID-19 Omicron.
The Cabinet meeting held on November 29 issued an order regarding travel management of passengers coming to Nepal from
countries where Omicron has been detected.4
The Nepal government has requested its citizens not to go abroad unless for urgent work keeping in mind the risk of the
Omicron variant. Issuing a press statement, the Ministry of Health and Population has also urged people to practice caution.5
The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has appealed to people to not go abroad unless very urgent. The request has
been made in the wake of the risk of the spread of the Omicron variant. The variant has not been seen in Nepal as of now,

2
  THT Online
3
  The Kathmandu Post
4
  Rastriya Samachar Samiti (in The Himalayan Times)
5
  Onlinekhabar

WHE Communications Intelligence                                                                                               3

informed Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari, Joint Spokesperson at MoHP. He also informed that the surveillance and test needed for
the Omicron variant has also been expanded. 6

It is possible to identify the new variant of COVID-19 in Nepal, according to Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Medical Technologist at
National Public Health Laboratory, who said they have the machine and human resources capable of conducting gene
sequencing of 40-50 samples at a time. They also have sufficient help from the experts from the World Health Organization
and others, he informed. At present the samples are being collected from the Tribhuvan International Airport and different parts
of the nation — it will take 7-10 days after the test to identify if they have the new variant of coronavirus, he said.7

The emergence of the new Omicron variant and the world’s desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders
of what scientists have warned for months: the coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines. The
hoarding of limited COVID-19 shots by rich countries — creating virtual vaccine deserts in many poorer ones — doesn’t just
mean risk for the part of the world seeing shortages; it threatens the entire globe. That’s because the more the disease
spreads among unvaccinated populations, the more possibilities it has to mutate and potentially become more dangerous,
prolonging the pandemic for everyone.8

The COVID-19 Omicron variant was detected in the Netherlands before two flights arrived from South Africa carrying the virus,
Dutch health officials said on November 30. At least 14 people on flights from Johannesburg and Capetown arrived at
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on November 26 carrying the new variant, the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said.
“We have found the Omicron coronavirus variant in two test samples that were taken on November 19 and November 23,” the
RIVM said. “It is not clear yet whether these people have visited South Africa.” 9

6
  Baahrakhari
7
  Baahrakhari
8
  The Associated Press (in The Kathmandu Post)
9
  Reuters (in The Himalayan Times)

WHE Communications Intelligence                                                                                              4

The Omicron variant of coronavirus has been confirmed in 22 countries as of now. Most recently, they have been confirmed in
Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea.10

The cases of infection with the highly transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus have been seen in 19 countries as of
November 30. Due to the rapid changes in the spike protein of the virus that weakens the immune system, the World Health
Organization (WHO) has deemed the variant as highly transmissible. However, no serious symptoms have been seen in the
infected as of now which is why one does not need to panic for now, as per doctors. According to virologist Janak Koirala,
generally a different mutation tends to weaken the immune system and the currently used vaccine might not be effective
against the new variant. But more studies are being undertaken regarding this, he said.11

                                                          OTHER(S)

                                                       National News

A total of 972,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is set to arrive in Nepal today (December 1). The vaccine is coming from the
Serum Institute of India under the COVAX facility.12

The rate of suicide and problems in mental health of children has increased with the COVID-19 infection in Nepal. According to
psychiatrist Dr Bijay Gyawali, the guardians did not give sufficient time to their children and they got addicted to screens, which
developed the tendency of expecting instant gratification in children. Instant gratification makes children aggressive and might
create an environment that aids tendency to commit suicide, he added.13

10
   Onlinekhabar
11
   Nayapatrika
12
   Ratopati
13
   Onlinekhabar

WHE Communications Intelligence                                                                                                 5

The Qatar government has provided 50 ventilators along with healthcare materials to Nepal to aid in the treatment of
COVID-19 patients.14

Nepali musical artistes have started taking part in stage shows in recent days with the decline in the cases of COVID-19. Stage
shows are regarded as the main source of income for artistes. Though the stage shows are getting back on track nearly after
one-and-half years, the Omicron variant has started to create a dilemma for the organizers and the artistes again. 15

                                                    International News

India has cancelled its plan to resume international flights from December 15 in the wake of the spread of Omicron variant of
coronavirus. The dates to resume international flights will be notified later as India is closely observing the situation brought on
by the Omicron variant, as per the Civil Aviation Directorate of India.16

Financial markets fell sharply on November 30 after the head of drugmaker Moderna said existing COVID-19 vaccines would
be less effective against the new Omicron variant, but they recovered strongly after more reassuring comments from
European officials.17

As global markets fell last week on the news of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, one cryptocurrency with the same name
soared after the Greek letter entered the investor lexicon. The price of the hitherto-obscure digital token, whose Twitter feed
has little more than 1,000 followers, rose almost 10-fold from November 26-29 morning when it hit $688, before tumbling as
much as t75 per cent, crypto tracker CoinGecko said.18

14
   Kantipur
15
   Onlinekhabar
16
   Onlinekhabar
17
   Reuters (in The Kathmandu Post)
18
   Reuters (in The Himalayan Times)

WHE Communications Intelligence                                                                                                   6

Contacts for further details

Ms Tsering Dolkar Gurung
NPO (Communication, Media, and Public Information)
World Health Organization, Country Office for Nepal
gurungt@who.int

WHO’s COVID-19 response in Nepal is made possible through the generous support of the
Government of Azerbaijan, the Government of Canada,
UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO),
Government of Germany, and USAID.

Reference Code: 21DEC02MM_081

WHE Communications Intelligence                                                         7