National Context:• The districts with COVID-19 active positive cases have

now climbed up to 76 out of 77, with 1,716 deaths. In the past week alone, there were around 100 COVID-19 related deaths across Nepal (Ministry of Health and Population – MoHP).

• The Government of Nepal (GoN) has made a plan to inoc-ulate 72 per cent of the country’s total population against COVID-19. Vaccine has not been tested on children so far and the plan is to vaccinate all except the children, according to the MOHP.

• A study has shown that 13.9 per cent of COVID-19 infec-tions were found at the community level. The study conduct-ed by the Epidemiology and Communicable Disease Con-trol Division (EDCD) under the MoHP, with the assistance of WHO reached to this conclusion. Seroprevalence survey was conducted after antibody test to ascertain whether the COVID-19 had spread at the community level. Province 2 and Bagmati Province were found more vulnerable (National

News Agency, RSS).

• While Local Governments (LG) and schools say safety measures are in place, experts warn children may carry the disease to their grandparents who fall in the most vulnerable category; following the preparation to reopen schools in Kathmandu valley.

• A total of 513 deceased are missing from the MoHP’s list, of people dying from COVID-19 infection. A commit-tee formed by the GoN to find out the exact number of deaths from COVID-19 has confirmed that the names of 513 people have been left out of the statistics of the MoHP till 15 October 2020 (Focused C19 Media Monitoring

Nepal, 13 DEC 2020, WHO Nepal/Nayapatrika).

• Flights between Nepal and India are expected to begin from 17 December, pending approvals from the airport authorities of both countries, under an air bubble arrange-ment. Nepal Airlines has asked Indian authorities to waive quarantine requirements for Nepali passengers besides allowing them to reuse their negative test reports for the return flight, if they are flying back within 72 hours.

Local Context: Doti, Achham, Dailekh, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Banke, Bardiya and Dhading• Most of the Local Governments (LGs) in these districts have

decided to resume schools, however the flow of students coming to schools is very few.The rapid assessment conduct-ed by DCA partners in these districts show that most of the schools do not follow GoN’s health and safety protocol - Social Distancing, Mask and Sanitization - SMS, lack basic water and sanitation facilities and no availability of proper hand washing stations in the schools.

• Prohibitory orders have been issued by Mangalsen, Ban-nigadhi and Kamalbazar municipalities in Achham District due to increase in the infection rate of COVID -19. Banking transaction has been stopped in Mangalsen Municipality and the municipality has issued a schedule to open the market between 7 -10 AM and 7-8 PM only.

• The District Administrative Office (DAO), Achham has asked the municipal authorities to check the authenticity of the PCR tests being conducted at the Kamalbazar Municipality. It has also asked the LG to track all the COVID-19 positive cas-es in the municipality and follow up about their whereabouts regularly, especially to those staying in the home isolation.

• Businesses in a Far-Western borders is yet to reopen after lockdown. Many business owners in Brahmadev are cur-rently engaged in agriculture, some have become street vendors and others are working in mining sites. There are around 150 shops in Brahmadev bazaar. Among them, only a dozen has reopened after the lockdown. All those that have reopened are not doing good business.

• The LGs in close coordination with DCA and its partners are supporting in income generation activities targeting the urban poors through Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance, quick-impact economic recovery activities, and business plans development.

• District Disaster Management Committees (DDMCs) in Kanchanpur District called for a stakeholder meeting in-cluding DCA partners in the district, to discuss on the response plan for upcoming cold wave. Every year, around 100 people die of cold wave in Nepal’s southern plains. The DDMCs are preparing for the worst situation given the COVID-19 crisis and are also assessing the availability of health gears in the district.

• The LGs in Kanchanpur District has opened a grant to purchase agricultural devices for migrant returnees and are seeking technical support from DCA partners.

DCA HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE: DCA in Nepal is working in nine districts so far in Bagmati Province, Gandaki Province, Province 5, Sudurpaschim Province and Karnali Province, especially focusing on COVID-19 response and recovery, along with other pre-existing development projects.

A recent study on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders during COVID-19 Pandemic in Nepal by INSEC, through the financial support from DCA.

• Health workers say that after the outbreak of COVID-19, the working environment has become uncomfortable, physical and mental stress has been created. And lack of adequate availability of health protective materials such as masks, sanitisers, PPEs and gloves, shoes and the quality of the materials available poses a health risk to oneself, one’s patients and one’s family. At times, they were wearing the same mask for four days and some health workers alternated with health protection products such as PPE.

• In Karnali alone, more than five dozen media outlets were shut down during the lockdown, leaving more than 80 media workers and more than 60 media house workers without jobs. The President of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) said that 500 journalists have lost their jobs so far. According to a recent survey by the Federation of Nepali Journalists, 9 per cent of journalists have had their salaries cut, 20 per cent have not received regular salaries, 4 per cent have lost their jobs, and one-third have not received their salaries for the past four months and about 10 per cent thought they would change their profession, and 7.2 per cent said they were frustrated with their future.

• Human rights activists reported that the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic had made it difficult to carry out routine work, and the situation had been exacerbated by the lockdown. However, they believe that things are im-proving after the lockdown was lifted.

DCA Moving towards the recovery of

HHs affected from

COVID-19:

DCA’s Early Re-covery interven-tions are focused

on economic recovery, protec-tion of the most vulnerable HHs/

individuals and WASH.

DCA through its partner SOSEC Nepal provided mushroom farming training to the migrant returnees in Dailekh District in a bid to engage them in income generation activities and restore their lost livelihood.

For further information,Please write us to dcanepal@dca.dk

Samjhana Bista, DCA in Nepal, sabi@dca.dk

In Pictures

#Facebook https://fb.watch/2dT5i249CU/https://purnimanepal.com/stories_posts/combatting-psychosocial-issues/https://reliefweb.int/report/nepal/dca-integrated-flood-and-covid-19-support-brings-happinessPrevious SITREPs: https://reliefweb.int/organization/dca Socio-economic Impact Assessment of COVID-19: reflection of the key findings- https://reliefweb.int/report/nepal/covid-19-socio-economic-sur-vey-report-humanitarian-response-team-dca-nepal-office-juneDCA COVID-19 Response: Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM) Highlights: https://reliefweb.int/report/nepal/dca-covid-19-response-post-distri-bution-monitoring-highlights DCA integrated flood and COVID-19 response in Kailali district: Post Distribution Monitoring Highlights: https://reliefweb.int/report/nepal/dca-integrated-flood-and-covid-19-response-kailali-district-post-distributionA study “COVID-19 Impact on Migrants Workers” in Sudurpaschim Province - https://reliefweb.int/report/nepal/survey-report-covid-19-impact-migrants-workers-sudurpashchim-pradesh

DCA hosted the first episode of Urban Disaster Dialogue Series on 14 December 2020, discussing whether COVID-19 is an urban crisis. The

speakers highlighted the socio- economic impact of COVID-19 in cities, that has forced people towards unemployment, affecting the country’s economy including the tourism sector and recommended the GoN launch subsidies

and other incentives to revive businesses and generate employment for its citizens. The programme also highlighted the revitalizing of COVID-19

messaging and strengthening the capacity of LG that eventually will help in the better response of the crisis. The discussion will continue in coming days, which is a joint initiative of Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Adminis-tration (MOFAGA) led CBDRM platform and the Safer Cities Initiatives of

Nepal- currently led by DCA.