FOCUS: Nepal appeals for help as deadly coronavirus crisis unfolds
As the international community focuses on the humanitarian crisis in India, a deadly coronavirus crisis is also unfolding in neighboring Nepal, leaving the small Himalayan nation in a battle it is ill-prepared to fight, public health experts say.
Nepal was among the first in Asia to start an inoculation drive, launching the effort in January, but it has been suspended since April as vaccines stopped coming from India, where the health system has collapsed under the burden of the pandemic.
The Indian government has temporarily banned vaccine exports to prioritize vaccinating its own population in a frantic effort to contain the rapid spread of the virus in a nation of over 1.3 billion people.