We read the recent article by Shrestha et al.,1 about Nepal’s first
case of COVID-19 and public health response with great interest.
Despite recent progress and the government’s commitment to
reduce the absolute poverty rate to 16.7% from 18.7% last
year,2 the World Bank forecasts that 31.2% of Nepalis are
at risk of falling into extreme poverty, primarily because of
reduced remittances from overseas workers, foregone earnings of
potential migrants, collapse of the tourist industry, job losses in
the informal sector and increased cost of essential commodities,
all as a result of COVID-19.3
