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Nepal reported 23 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 5, 847 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 23 returned positive. 

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 66 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 899 active cases in the country.

Among them, 858 are in home isolation and 41 are in institutionalized isolation. 

Of the infected people, 15 are in Intensive Care Units while two are on ventilators.

Nepali Congress central member Dr Shekhar Koirala has pointed out that the country has faced irrelevant expenditures in the name of constructing view towers.

Rather budget spent in the construction of the view towers should have been invested in the construction of hospitals and schools, he said while inaugurating the Simaltar Water Supply Project at Bandipur Rural Municipality-2 in Tanahun district today.

"We said we lack money for development activities. However, we are spending money unnecessarily in building view towers. We are building welcome gates in Madhes roads. Such activities should be stopped."

He asked NC leaders and cadres to pledge to rather invest money spent in the construction of view towers in the construction of hospitals and schools. It would help the NC, he said.

In another context, the NC leader committed to the agreement of continuing the existing coalition until the May 13 local election. But there is not a clarity on how to move ahead with the alliance in the poll, he said.

The lift water project that cost over Rs 15 million is expected to provide water to 225 households at Simaltar, Dharapani, Chamundathan and Thumki. RSS

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 30. 89 points to close at 2,513.41 points on Sunday.

Similarly, the sensitive dropped by 6.44 points to close at 469. 03 points.

A total of 3,253,816 units of the shares of 225 companies were traded for Rs 1.46 billion.

Meanwhile, Rastra Utthan Laghubitta Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10 percent. 

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3.56 trillion.

A police constable was found hanging in Biratnagar on Sunday.

DSP Deepak Shrestha, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Morang, Jit Bikram Dahal (26) of Biranagar Metropolitan City-5 was found hanging in a tree near his house this morning. 

Dahal, who was stationed at the Sukrabare Police Post in Sunsari, was accused of attempting to rape a woman. Sunsari police had filed a rape case against him.

Dahal has been living in his house in Biratnagar after he was released on bail from the court. 

Police said that they are looking into the case. 

In a surprise move, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday that he has advised President Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly and call for fresh elections, minutes after the deputy speaker rejected a no-confidence motion against the embattled leader, The Times of India reported.

Prime Minister Khan, who had effectively lost majority in the 342-member National Assembly, made a brief address to the nation after a stormy parliament session was adjourned by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri.

Khan congratulated the nation for the no-trust motion being dismissed, saying the deputy speaker had "rejected the attempt of changing the regime [and] the foreign conspiracy".

"The nation should prepare for the new elections," he said, adding that the no-confidence was actually a "foreign agenda".

Khan said he has advised President Alvi to dissolve assemblies.

"Prepare for elections. No corrupt forces will decide what the future of the country will be. When the assemblies will be dissolved, the procedure for the next elections and the caretaker government will begin," the 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician said.

Earlier, Deputy Speaker Suri dismissed the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against Prime Minister Khan, terming it against the Constitution and rules of Pakistan.

"The no-confidence should be according to the Constitution of and rules of the country. Since it is not as pointed out by the Law Minister, so I reject the no-confidence motion," Suri ruled, amid vociferous protest by Opposition lawmakers, according to The Times of India.

Suri chaired the crucial session after Opposition parties filed a no-confidence motion against Speaker  Asad Qaiser.

Domestic and international flights at Tribhuvan International Airport have been affected due to low visibility caused by bad weather condition since a week, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal at the TIA.

Thirty one domestic flights have been affected since today morning due to bad weather, said the TIA spokesperson Teknath Sitaula.

Flights would resume smoothly and regularly once the weather is clear, he said. Many domestic and international flights were affected due to low visibility on Saturday as well. RSS 

China reported 13,000 Covid cases on Sunday, the most since the peak, the most since the peak of the first pandemic wave over two years ago, with Shanghai now the epicentre of the country’s worst outbreak, Xinhua reported,

The highly transmissible Omicron variant has spread to more than a dozen provinces, rattling China’s “zero-Covid” strategy which had until March successfully kept the daily caseload down to double or triple digits.

But the current outbreak is also testing the patience of the Chinese towards tough restrictions, as Beijing imposes targeted lockdowns, mass tests and travel curbs at a time when much of the world has re-opened.

Tens of millions of Chinese residents have once more endured some form of lockdown over the last month, disrupting work and damaging the economy, according to Xinhua.

The country recorded 13,146 cases on Sunday, the National Health Commission said in a statement, with “no new deaths” reported.

It is China’s highest infection toll since the middle of February 2020.

The streets of Shanghai were quiet Sunday as a citywide lockdown dragged on, with nearly 70 percent of the national infection caseload discovered from mass testing its 25 million residents.

But city authorities have conceded they are struggling to contain the outbreak, with thousands now in state quarantine and the capacity of health workers stretched.

Vice Premier Sun Chunlan urged “resolute and swift moves to stem the spread of the virus” after a visit to Shanghai, official news agency Xinhua reported Sunday.

Anger is rising among residents over lockdowns that were initially planned to last just for four days, but now appear likely to drag on for several more days as fresh rounds of mass testing are carried out, Xinhua reported.

Parents have expressed fears of separation from their children in the event of a positive test, while residents have griped about a lack of fresh food and the ability to walk dogs outside.

China, the country where the coronavirus was first detected in 2019, is among the last remaining places following a zero-Covid approach to the pandemic.

The outbreak has taken on an increasingly serious economic dimension, trimming analysts’ growth projections as factories close and millions of consumers are ordered indoors.

Shanghai’s restrictions threaten to snarl supply chains, with shipping giant Maersk saying some depots in the city remained closed and trucking services would likely be hit further due to the lockdown.

The World Health Organization’s emergencies director Michael Ryan last week said it was important for all countries, including China, to have a plan to wind down pandemic restrictions.

But he said China’s vast population provides a unique challenge to its health system and authorities will have to “define a strategy that allows them to exit (the pandemic) safely”, Xinhua reported.

A person died and two other sustained injuries when a Scorpio jeep bearing an Indian registration number plate hit them at Tinkairiya in Bideha Municipality-6 of Dhanusha district on Saturday.

The deceased has been identified as Harichan Mandal (35).

The four-wheeler (BR. 0PB-3902) heading towards Kamala from Janakpur yesterday evening, police said.

The injured have been sent to the Janakpur Provincial Hospital for treatment.

Police said that they have impounded the vehicle and arrested its driver for investigation.