Kathmandu, Aug 26

The WHO Representative to Nepal Dr Jos Vandelaer has said along with the increasing cases of COVID-19 infected persons, the rate of death among the infected elderly persons would also soar in Nepal.

In an interview released by the Ministry of Health and Population here on Tuesday, Dr Vandelaer alerted that the death case among the elderly infected persons could increase. He said, “Until few months ago, COVID-19 cases were mostly reported from the Nepalis returning from abroad including India. As the number of returning Nepalis has waned, the score of infected cases has also declined. But lately, the COVID-19 cases have risen alarmingly and there’s likelihood of dire state due to the pandemic.”

As of today, the number of COVID-19 cases in Nepal has reached 33,533 while the number of casualty due to this flu-like infection stands at 164. The infection rate in the Nepal accounts for 0.1 per cent. According to him, although the Corona virus cases could rise, there was nothing to worry about.

“Not all people will be actively infected and not all those infected ones would succumb to the deadly infection. Most of the infected ones would have mild symptoms which would not be fatal” he said, urging one and all to observe precaution against this flu-like infection.

He was of the view that the coordination and collaboration among the three-tier government in Nepal was a challenge to prevent and control the COVID-19 and to treat the infected ones, Dr Vandelaer said that the role of the local government was crucial for contact tracing of the infected ones to control the deadly infection.

He emphasized on public private partnership and collaboration to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country.