These are some of the best stories from The Kathmandu Post (March 26, 2020).

Nepalis in Qatar live in overcrowded and squalid conditions even during pandemic

Raja has now been under lockdown at his camp for nearly 15 days. The migrants’ camp he lives in at Salwa Road, Doha, is home to nearly 16,000 others, including 5,000 Nepali migrant workers. He shares his room and bathroom with four other Nepalis. His kitchen is also used by 48 others from different countries.

The Arab country imposed a general lockdown two weeks ago after Covid-19 cases were reported in the country. But for workers like Raja, life goes on.

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With the country under lockdown, a blood crisis looms

With Nepal in the second day of a nationwide lockdown enforced due to Covid-19 ‘social distancing’ protocols, officials at the Red Cross have warned of a possible blood shortage in the country.

Fears of contracting Covid-19 had led to the cancellation of a number of blood drives so the supply was already low, said Dr Manita Rajkarnikar, director of the Central Blood Transfusion Service at the Red Cross. Around nine blood drives were cancelled in the Capital in the past two weeks and now the lockdown has put an end to all other drives for the time being, she said.

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Daily wage workers are more worried about starving to death than Covid-19

Laxmi Chhetri and her husband have both not been to work for the past two days. Chhetri, who lives with her husband and two children at the squatter settlement in Sankhamul, works as a maid while her husband is a house painter. With the country under lockdown, neither of them has been able to go to work, and as daily wage labourers with few savings, things are not looking good.

“We have been sustaining our family with our daily wages,” said 38-year-old Chhetri. “If the lockdown continues, we will die of starvation.”

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Health workers in Province 1 demand facilities at hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients

Health workers at Koshi Hospital in Biratnagar staged a protest on Wednesday, stating that the hospital administration has not provided them with protective gears, including face masks. They have demanded better protective gears and facilities to treat suspected Covid-19 patients.

“We don’t have protective gears, not even basics like facemasks,” said Bindu Siwakoti, a nurse at the hospital. “Over 30 patients with fever visit the hospital daily, and the number of visitors is increasing by the day. There is a high chance of coronavirus spreading in the health institution.”

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Despite a significant number of rescues, 300 trekkers remain stranded in various trekking routes

About 300 foreigners have been stranded along various trekking routes ever since the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to control the possible spread of Covid-19 on Tuesday.

Khum Bahadur Subedi, president of Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, said that the foreigners had obtained trekking permits long before the government prohibited movement across the country.

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