Following the easing of lockdown, the number of COVID-19 cases has drastically increased in the urban areas like Kathmandu Valley. If things continue, Nepal’s health sector will unable to provide services. With the capacity to provide up to 25000 patients, Nepal’s health sector is facing major challenges.

With 17,414 active cases of COVID, 8,228 patients are in institutional isolation and 9,186 are in home isolation, Ministry of Health and Population has already issued a warning to face dire consequences in health sector.

The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has recommended the government to enforce lockdown if the active cases of COVID-19 cross 25,000.

A meeting of the Incident Command System (ICS) under the MoHP made the recommendation to the government to this effect on Wednesday.

Speaking in the regular media briefing “The services and activities that cannot follow all the safety protocols must be closed for at least a month in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases,” said Dr. Gautam.

Professor Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, the spokesperson at the MoHP, has made it clear that the available health resources and infrastructure would not be enough to manage more than 25,000 active cases.

He said that there will be no option other than to announce lockdown in such a situation

Nepal has recorded 67,804 COVID-19 cases with the confirmation of 1,172 new cases on Wednesday. Kathmandu Valley alone recorded 637 new cases today.