KATHMANDU: If you live in Nepal, a quick survey of friends and family will quickly prove how rapidly Covid-19 infection rates have spiked. For instance, out of 50 people we called last week, more than half had been infected with the rest reporting that their extended families or colleagues had tested positive.

Recently, the sister-in-law of one of the authors - just 58 years old - died from the virus. She would have survived Covid-19, but despite a frantic rush around the city, we could not find an ICU bed in any of the hospitals in Kathmandu.