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The government of Nepal has decided to grant on arrival visas to only those foreign nationals who have received both doses of vaccine against Covid-19.

Issuing a notice on Friday, the Department of Immigration said that the foreign nationals have to present vaccination cards, negative reports of Covid-19 test conducted 72 hours before the flight, proof of hotel booking and mountaineering and trekking permit to obtain the on arrival visa.

Similarly, the department said that the foreigners who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 will have to take a visa from the Nepali Mission in the concerned country.

Foreigners who have not been vaccinated will have to undergo mandatory antigen tests at the airport.

If the results come positive, they will have to stay in isolation designated by the Ministry of Health and Population and they will have to stay in hotel quarantine for five days if the results come negative.

The department said that the foreigners will have to bear the expenses on their own.

The department further said that the on arrival visa will be given to the officials, staffers and their family members of the diplomatic mission in Nepal who have received both doses of vaccine against the Covid-19.

Those who have not been vaccinated will have to stay in quarantine for five days designated by the concerned diplomatic missions.

Purbanchal University and Mid-Western University have decided to postpone all their scheduled examinations.

The Examination Controller Office of the Mid-Western University said that it has decided to postpone all its examinations in view of the rising cases of Covid-19.

Dr Ananda Prasad Subedi, Head of the Examination Controller Office, said that the exams have been postponed until further notice.

Similarly, the Examination Controller Office of Purbanchal has also decided to postpone its all examinations.

Earlier on Thursday, Tribhuvan University and Public Service Commission have also postponed their scheduled examinations until the next notice.

Britain on Friday warned Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping that its allies would stand together to fight for democracy against dictatorships that it said were more emboldened than at any time since the Cold War, Reuters reported.

Speaking in Australia, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Britain and its alliesin the "free world" must respond together to global threats, deepen ties with democracies in the Indo-Pacific and "face down global aggressors" who were using economic dependence to get what they want.

Truss and Britain's defence secretary, Ben Wallace, met with their Australian counterparts in Sydney on Friday for the annual Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN), where a deal for Australia acquire nuclear submarines was discussed.

Australia's defence minister, Peter Dutton, said there was no plan to establish a British military base in Australia, even as the British navy stepped up its presence in the Pacific. The two countries signed deals to fund infrastructure in the region as a counter to Beijing's influence.

In a joint statement, the ministers expressed concern at Russia's military build-up on the border with Ukraine and "their absolute support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Truss warned Putin to "desist and step back from Ukraine before he makes a massive strategic mistake", in a speech at the Lowy Institute foreign affairs think tank.

Truss argued that the "Kremlin has not learned the lessons of history" and that "invasion will only lead to a terrible quagmire and loss of life, as we know from the Soviet-Afghan war and conflict in Chechnya."

More than 15,000 Soviet troops died in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, while hundreds of thousands of Afghans perished. The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 led to more than 3,500 deaths among the international military coalition.

Global aggressors "are emboldened in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War," Truss said in the speech.

"They seek to export dictatorship as a service around the world," she added. "That is why regimes like Belarus, North Korea and Myanmar find their closest allies in Moscow and Beijing."

Britain should work with allies such as Australia, Israel, India, Japan and Indonesia to "face down global aggressors", especially in the Pacific.

"It is time for the free world to stand its ground," she said, adding that China's "economic coercion" of Australia was "one of the wake-up calls" to Britain that Beijing was using its economic might to exert control over other countries.

Beijing, which imposed trade sanctions on Australian goods after Canberra called for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, has denied accusations of economic coercion.

The West casts Russia as a dictatorial kleptocracy governed by a mercurial elite that has involved itself in irresponsible escapades such as the 2014 annexation of Crimea, attempts to meddle in U.S. and European elections, and a series of high-profile espionage and assassination attempts abroad.

Russian officials say the West is riddled with division, gripped by Russophobia and has no right to lecture Moscow on how to act.

Police have arrested a man with 7,600 kg of low quality honey.

Acting on a tip-off, a team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) arrested the operator of Natija Packaging Nara Bahadur Shrestha aka Naresh Shrestha.

Natija Packaging, which was registered in the name of his wife Rashmila Shrestha, had been producing low quality honey for the past seven years.

Police said that they have been found selling the honey by pasting the label of ‘Sparsha Honey’.

SP Krishna Prasad Koirala, who is also the spokesperson of the MPCD said that the honey was found to be of poor quality and inedible while testing at the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control.

According to a preliminary investigation, they had been found selling the low quality honey in the restaurants and hotels in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Pokhara.

The Sparsha Honey brand has not been registered yet. 

Police have recovered machines, chemicals and raw materials among others used to make the honey.

Shrestha has been sent to the Metropolitan Police Range, Teku for further investigation.

The government has decided to impose the odd and even system for vehicles in the Kathmandu Valley from midnight today to stem the surge of Covid-19.

A joint meeting of all three District Administration Offices of the Kathmandu Valley held on Thursday made the decision to this effect.

Acting Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Suprabha Khanal Dhungel said that vehicles with odd-registration number plates will operate on odd days and even registration plates on even days in the Kathmandu Valley.

The rule applies to both public and private vehicles.

She said that the public vehicles can carry passengers not more than their standard seating capacity. All the passengers should wear masks and the sanitizers should be provided at the door of the vehicles.

Kathmandu Valley has been facing shortage of cetamol, an important medicine for seasonal ailments, at present.

Prof Dr Jagadish Prasad Agrawal searched the medicine in many stores but to no avail. Instead he bought another medicine.

CPN-UML lawmaker Shanta Chaudhary also did not find the cetamol, which is used to relieve pain and reduce fever. She had taken to social media on Thursday to express her dissatisfaction.

Consumers claimed that the collusion between drug manufacturers and traders has created artificial shortage of cetamol in the wake of the coronavirus fear.

“The traders have been creating artificial shortages of paracetamol in the country to earn money from black marketing, taking advantage of the precarious situation,” Bishnu Timilsina, Deputy General Secretary of the Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights Nepal said.

Chairman of the Association of Pharmaceutical Producers of Nepal Prajwal Jung Pandey,however, said that the pharmaceutical industries have been producing paracetamol.

“Around 20-22 industries are producing paracetamol. We have been sending paracetamol in the market on a daily basis,” he said.

Mrigendra Meher Shrestha, the president of Nepal Chemists and Druggists Association, said there was no shortage of cetamol a week ago.

“The Covid-19 cases increased drastically in the past few days,” Sherstha said , adding, “Consumers bought more than they needed and the demand increased in the market.”

The government has not made public the number of people infected from the Omicron variant of coronavirus separately. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the number of Covid-19 cases has increased dramatically because of the Omicron.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is set to address the nation on Friday.

According to the PM's press advisor Govinda Pariyar, the Prime Minister will address the nation from his official residence in Baluwatar at 3 pm today.

Query

I am a 33-year-old working male. With the arrival of another wave of Covid-19, I feel anxious all the time. As I and my family have already been through the agony of covid infection, I fear it could happen all over again. It reaches a point where the smallest of things like a dry throat in the morning or a light headache in the evening makes me fear covid and I get anxious all over again. I start to worry about my family: how will they cope if something happens to me? So much so that I cannot even do routine work. How do I overcome my fear? – An anxious breadwinner

Answer by Kapil Sharma, Counseling Psychologist, Hudec Nepal 

I want to say that it is okay to be scared right now. The fear of catching Covid helps you be more alert and cautious. But that fear is a matter of concern if it scares you beyond reason. First things first, having gone through the experience before, you have a better idea of what it is like and what can be done when you or someone in your family is infected. You have the experience of taking care of your family and that in itself is a reassurance that no matter what happens, you know you will get through it and will help your family do the same.

Second, validation on a personal level, with family members, or with an expert can do wonders. Sit with yourself, check in with your feelings, and maybe write down what you are scared of. Why did this particular instance or feeling trigger your fear? How can you solve or get over it? Write down your thoughts and then go through them to differentiate which are true and which are not. 

You can also communicate with your family and share your feelings. A simple conversation can help you realize that you have no reason to be scared. 

That leads us to a logical validation. Try to validate your fears with logical reasoning. For example, if a dry throat in the morning triggers your fear of covid, try drinking warm water. Maybe it is just dehydration, and if that helps, you will calm down. If your throat still feels dry and the fear is still there, talk to your physician and share your feelings. Nowadays, we do have an option of telehealth services where you can cross-check and validate your symptoms with physicians and experts from your own home, so just dial and get your worries validated you are just a call away from winning your worries.  It will help you understand what is going on and what can be done for the safety of you and your family. 

Fear of uncertainty can be crippling. Of course, there is no way of knowing what is going to happen next, which can make you so fearful you can’t even do routine work. But then you can also take your fear as a window of opportunity. Make it a reason to be more cautious in any way you can. This can help you become more grounded and figure out how to stay safe rather than what is keeping you in danger. For instance, if stepping out for grocery shopping is nerve-racking, get a face shield and glasses besides other recommended safety measures before leaving home. That way, you are taking precautions, thereby reducing the chances of infection. 

If the issue persists, you can visit helping professionals like psychiatrists, counseling psychologists, or psychosocial counselors in person or online and help yourself to be resilient and be in an optimal state of wellbeing.