Nepal, Sept. 4 -- As a people, we love rituals, be it Indra Jatra rites or the everyday rounds of temples in the morning. A new ritual has now imprinted itself on our minds. This one occurs every evening around 4 pm, when the Health Ministry spokesperson reads out new Covid-19 figures for the day. We wait with bated breath, keep our fingers crossed, and mentally compare the numbers to the previous day.

The Nepali media has latched on to this daily ritual with a finesse. As the numbers are announced by the spokesperson, I can imagine a reporter diligently filing their copy, repeating the ministry's words, but little else. The news reports are all predictable: new cases, total PCR tests in the last 24 hours, and those who've been discharge...