KATHMANDU: With the spread of the third wave of coronavirus pandemic in Nepal, many political leaders, who had managed to skip the first two waves, have also suffered the infection and taken to isolation.

Nepal alerted the health systems and the citizens alike warning them of the vulnerability of the coronavirus pandemic. The third wave which started with the arrival omicron variant has equally targeted the top political leaders and the health workers.

Dozens of top Maoist leaders, including Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Education Minister Devendra Poudel, have been infected. Most of them have contracted corona at the Maoist central office. Most of the leaders who attended the 8th General Convention of the Maoists and the subsequent meeting of the Central Working Committee have contracted corona. Similarly, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Dina Upadhyay, Uma Regmi, Indra Baniya and other top leaders of the Nepali Congress have also been infected.

Top leaders of the CPN (Unified Socialists) including Madhav Kumar Nepal, Ram Kumar Bhattarai and Kalyani Khadka have contracted corona while top leaders of UML including Vice President Bishnu Poudel and General Secretary Shankar Pokharel have been infected.

Corona infected leaders are in isolation. However, some leaders who met and sat in the same meeting before the infection was confirmed contracted corona. Leaders including Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, who were present at the all-party meeting attended by Prachanda and Madhav Kumar, have escaped.

Leaders and journalists who participated in the event, which was organized in a crowded manner following the standards of public health, are now suffering from corona infection