Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic in Nepal: A Lockdown Scenario Analysis
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Abstract
The Government of Nepal issued a nationwide lockdown from 24 March to 21 July 2020, prohibiting domestic and international travels, closure of the border and non-essential services. There were only two confirmed cases from 610 Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests and no fatalities when the government introduced nationwide lockdown. This study aimed to explore the overall scenario of COVID-19 including spatial distribution of cases; government efforts, and impact on public health, socio-economy, and education during the lockdown in Nepal. We collated and analyzed data using official figures from the Nepalese Ministry of Health and Population. Nepal had performed 7,791 RT-PCR tests for COVID-19, the highest number of tests during the lockdown. It has recorded its highest daily rise in coronavirus infections with a total of 740 new cases from the total of 4,483 RT-PCR tests performed on a single day. Nepal had reported a total of 17,994 positive cases and 40 deaths at the end of lockdown. The spatial distribution clearly shows that the cases were rapidly spreading from the southern part of the country where most points of entry and exit from India are located. To contain the spread of the virus, the government has also initiated various preventive measures and strategies during the lockdown. The Government of Nepal needs to allocate more resources, increase its capacity to test and trace, establish dedicated isolation and quarantine facility and impose local restrictions such as a local lockdown based on risk assessment rather than a nationwide lockdown.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.03.20187807: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Statistical Analysis: Data were analysed descriptively in a Microsoft Excel 2019 Version 16.0 Microsoft Excelsuggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Strengths and Limitations: The study strength included the …
SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.03.20187807: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Statistical Analysis: Data were analysed descriptively in a Microsoft Excel 2019 Version 16.0 Microsoft Excelsuggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Strengths and Limitations: The study strength included the use of openly available official figures from the MOHP web portal to provide an overall scenario of COVID-19 pandemic during the lockdown. The findings would be applicable to compare the post-lockdown situation of COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal and to guide more effective measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. One of the limitations with openly available data was that individual-level patient details were not accessible to perform detail epidemiological analysis. The number of people who had COVID-19 represents only a reflection of those who were tested rather than the actual figure. In the daily situation reports shared by the MOHP, there was inconsistency in the details provided. Some daily situation reports of the COVID-19 had information on gender while others did not contain such key information.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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