As expected, the coronavirus has not respected India’s borders with her neighbors, with particular problems in Nepal and Thailand. While the increases in Laos (up to 74 new cases/day), Vietnam (up to 20/day last week, up from 8/day) and Bhutan (up from 0 to 13 cases last month), the worst situations are found in Thailand and Nepal. Thailand, over the month of April went from 100 cases/day (on a 7-day average) to 1,800.
Nepal in the last seven days has gone from 4,500 to 7,600 cases/day, with a positivity rate at around 40%! (It was around 10% three weeks ago.) The chair of the Nepal Red Cross, Netra Prasad Timsina: “What is happening in India right now is a horrifying preview of Nepal’s future if we cannot contain this latest COVID surge.… It is beyond distressing to see that people cannot say goodbye to their loved ones as cremations are taking place at record levels due to these new COVID variants, which are striking down people of all ages in Nepal.”
