The winter days are behind us, afternoons are getting warmer, pollen is irritating our nostrils, and we are calling it a season of changing weather. The general perception in Nepali society is that changing weather brings with it samanya rugha-khoki, or common cold. It could very well be the common cold if we are sneezing and coughing, and a bit warmer than normal. But it could also be the unwanted guest we have learnt to live with, albeit uncomfortably. Yes, Covid-19 is back again, and we are re-opening our doors to the guest that has been coming in and going in recent years, often in different guises.

Health officials say Covid-19 is on the rise—beds in the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku, Kathmandu are filling up with its patients again—and we should take it seriously. A significant number of new patients are those above 65 years of age, meaning they are vulnerable to serious illnesses, and in rare cases, death. The virus in circulation in Nepal at the moment is thought to be JN.1, a subvariant of Omicron. The country had confirmed the spread of this variant in January. As the Nepal government has stopped actively scouting Covid-19 cases, there is no certainty as to whether other variants are circulating in the country at the moment. But what is certain is that a significant number of cases is being reported in patients returning from India.

But we are ill-prepared to deal with a possible spike in coronavirus infections. The absence of mass-scale infections and deaths in the past two years has made us complacent. We know from past cases, such as the onslaught of Delta and Omicron variants, that coronavirus strikes when we are the least prepared. As health professionals say, a pandemic of the Covid-19 kind never goes away—it lies dormant only to come roaring back. It is, therefore, time to be vigilant against the virus before it gets out of hand. The vigilance should begin with the government itself.

As the spread of the virus came down the number of vaccinations began to decline too. Of late, there has been little effort from the government to provide booster doses to the people. What’s more, the government has closed down vaccination and testing centres in many places. Accordingly, people have become disinterested in vaccination, choosing not to bother with the hassle of travelling to the vaccination centres. And it is precisely during these gaps that the virus strikes back. With the number of people experiencing coronavirus-like symptoms increasing, it is time for the government to dust off its Polymerase Chain Reaction machines and spring back into action.

Meanwhile, people must remain vigilant and mask up again when gathering in public spaces. At the peak of the Delta virus, when patients gasped for oxygen and slept on hospital corridors, the political parties, many of which are either in the government or the opposition even today, feigned helplessness. As we could again be left to fend for ourselves in the future, we may want to take care of ourselves at present.