Nepal: COVID-19 & the return of migrants

Many migrant workers, most of them from Nepal, lost their employment when the Indian governmentimposed a strict lockdown on 25 March to contain the spread of COVID-19. With theeasing of the lockdown, 600,000 migrant workers are expected to return to Nepal in the coming weeks andmay weaken the effectiveness of Nepal’s COVID-19 mitigation measures. In March alone, around 500,000people crossed the border from India without any screening or other measures applied. The healthcare system will likely be put under significant stress as aconsequence of increased cases of COVID-19, and access to health serviceswill become more limited. The return of Nepalese migrants will put additionalpressure on an already overstretched healthcare system and will allow thevirus to spread even faster.