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A nationwide vaccination campaign against measles-rubella is starting today. The vaccination campaign targeted on all children between nine months to 15 years of age will continue till March 20.

The first phase will cover 24 districts including 21 highly infected districts bordering India and three districts of Kathmandu Valley. Similarly, children from nine months to five years of age in the remaining 53 districts will also be vaccinated. Vaccination will take place in schools and vaccination centers from 10 am to 4 pm every day.

Around 2.1 million children between nine months to five years and 3.6 million between five years and 15 years will be vaccinated, said Chief of Department of Health Services, Child Health and Immunization Section, Dr Abhiyan Gautam.

A total of 48,798 vaccination centers have been set up across the country for the campaign. Similarly, 49,937 health workers and 59,906 volunteers are being mobilized

The vaccination campaign is being carried out with the goal of eliminating measles-rubella by 2026.

The Department of Immigration has started issuing route permits for domestic and foreign tourists going to restricted zones through an online system.

Prior to this, the DOI was providing permits to tourists going to restricted zones physically after completing the due procedures and paperwork. But since last week, arrangements have been made to issue route permits through electronic means.

With the provision of route permits online, now it will be easy for tourists to go to the upper Mustang, upper Dolpa, Tsum and Nuvri Valley of Manaslu region of Gorkha, Simkot, Changkheli and Namkha of Humla district as well as Kanchenjunga region of Taplejung, said Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) General Secretary, Binod Sapkota.

Likewise, TAAN President Neelhari Bastola said the more tourists can be facilitated the more they will come to visit Nepal. I believe that this online service will help promote the trekking industry, he said.

Meanwhile, Acting Director General Department of Immigration Krishna Bahadur Katwal said with the new system in place tourists can now easily get permits online by making 'QR payment' from a trekking company or their personal accounts.

The Narayangadh-Muglin road, which was being closed for four hours every day in the afternoon, will not be closed from today.

Information Officer of Naghdhunga-Muglin Road Project West Section (Narayangadh-Muglin) Engineer Krishna Prasad Acharya said that since the work on cutting off the cliff for a bridge is almost complete it has been decided not to close the road from today.

The road was closed every day for four hours for the construction of a bridge over the Tuin River, since December 22 last year.

Engineer Acharya said that a 60-meter-long bridge will be built over the Tuin river. Four of the 19 bridges on this section of the road were constructed four years ago. The remaining 15 bridges were contracted simultaneously, of which eight bridges have been completed and are under operation.

While six bridges are nearing completion, the construction of the bridge over the Tuin River has faced a problem due to the hard rocks in the adjoining hill. The construction of the bridge started three years ago. The cost of the bridge is estimated to be 1.28 billion rupees.

With the widening of the road, this road section has become 9 to 11 meters wide. It is the main road connecting the Tarai with the federal capital, which sees thousands of vehicles pass through it every day.

A tiger was found dead and buried in Madhyabindu Municipality of Nawalparasi (Bardghat Susta East).

The male tiger was found dead in the Nawadurga Community Forest located in Madhyabindu Municipality-15 on Saturday, said Forest Officer at Chormara Range Post, Durgadatta Kandel.

"An adult male Royal Bengal tiger was found buried in the forest 500 meters south of the East-West Highway", he said.

This is the second wild tiger found dead in a span of a week in Madhyabindu municipality.

Earlier on February 16, a male tiger was found dead in Arunkhola forest area located in ward no 10 of the same Municipality.