‘A hopeless situation’: oxygen shortage fuels Nepal’s Covid crisis Rajneesh Bhandari in Kathmandu and Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi
The story of Dilli Raj Joshi is now a sadly familiar one. After travelling to a wedding in mid-April with his family – a fun, rowdy affair – he began to be troubled by a headache and then breathing difficulties.
Joshi’s worried family took him to a nearby hospital where he was diagnosed with Covid-19 and pneumonia. As his condition deteriorated, the doctors suggested he be transferred to a hospital with intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators, as they had none. But though the family frantically searched for three days, no ICU ward had any space for Joshi. On Friday he died, having never received the medical care he needed to live.
Wed 5 May 2021 09.37 EDT
Last modified on Mon 17 May 2021 04.37 EDT
Nepal’s decision to allow people to continue to climb its Himalayan peaks as a vicious Covid-19 wave sweeps the country was dealt a further blow after 19 more climbers tested positive for the virus.
Now it has emerged that 19 people – foreign climbers and sherpas – have tested positive at the base camp of Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh highest mountain and part of the same range as Everest.
Mingma Sherpa, the chair of Seven Summit Treks, who is running an expedition at Dhaulagiri base camp, confirmed that four climbershad been flown to Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, on Tuesday after they were found to be positive in rapid diagnostic tests at the camp.