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Nepal logged 5, 292 new Covid-19 cases and eight deaths on Monday.

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 1,082,668. Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 11,743.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 10,368 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 3,472 returned positive. Likewise, 5,720 people underwent antigen tests, of which 1,820 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 8,191 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 79,272 active cases in the country.

The Ministry said that 862,898 infected people have recovered from the disease so far.

The Ministry said that 77,665 people are staying in home isolation while 1, 607 are in institutionalized isolation.

Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Valley reported 1772 new cases today.

According to the Ministry, 1,361 cases are reported in Kathmandu, 271 in Lalitpur and 90 in Bhaktapur.

India has forecast its economy will grow 8% to 8.5% for the fiscal year starting in April, down from 9.2% projected in the current year, as it fights a spike in COVID-19 cases and rising inflationary pressure, Reuters reported.

At that pace, India's economic growth next fiscal year will still be the fastest among major economies.

All macro indicators indicated Asia's third-largest economy was well placed to face challenges, helped by improving farm and industrial output growth, the government's annual economic survey said on Monday.

The report, tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in parliament ahead of the annual budget on Tuesday, warned about risks from global inflation and pandemic-related disruptions.

"India does need to be wary of imported inflation, especially from elevated global energy prices," said Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic adviser at the finance ministry and the lead author of the report.

India, which meets nearly 80% of its oil needs from imports, faces the risk that inflation will hit consumer demand as global crude prices hover near a 7-year high at more than $90 a barrel.

"The global environment still remains uncertain," the report said citing planned withdrawal of monetary support by major central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve. Higher rates elsewhere could lead to capital outflows for India.

The growth projections assumed a normal rainfall and an orderly withdrawal of global liquidity by major central banks, the report said.

Private economists said the government and central bank would have to balance their efforts to support economic growth considering rising inflationary pressures and sluggish domestic demand.

"With the rising pressure to tighten the monetary stance, policymakers will have difficulty in calibrating policy choices to balance between growth and (price) stability objectives," said Rumki Majumdar, economist at Deloitte India.

The report said the government had fiscal space to provide additional support if necessary, citing a 67% increase in revenue receipts during the April-November period from a year earlier.

India's economy has been on the mend after the government lifted mobility measures in June to curb the spread of coronavirus, after contracting 7.3% in the previous fiscal year.

But after a surge in Omicron cases early this month, many private economists and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have cut growth estimates to 9% from an initial 11% estimate.

The annual report, which presents a report card of India's economic achievements and provides new estimates, has often missed targets.

Last year it forecast annual economic growth of 11%, that was later revised down by the statistics ministry to 9.2%, after economic activity was hit hard by the Omicron variant.

Private consumption, accounting for nearly 55% of GDP, remains weak amid rising levels of household debt, while retail prices have soared since the coronavirus outbreak began in early 2020.

Police on Sunday carried out a raid at an online gambling den at Boudha and arrested 74 persons involved in the unlawful activities. 

A police team deployed from the Metropolitan Police Circle, Boudha raided a restaurant and rounded up 66 men and eight women while they were playing online bingo.

Subash Ghising is the owner of the restaurant.

Police said that they have recovered around Rs 600,000 from the scene.

Indian high performance coach Raghuram Srinivas has been appointed as the fielding consultant of the Nepali national cricket team.

According to the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), he arrived in Nepal on Sunday to take the responsibility of the close camp.

Srinivas was the fielding coach when Nepal's head coach Pubudu Dassanayake was the coach of the United States.

Dassanayake expressed his happiness over the arrival of Srinivas in Nepal.

Nepal are playing T20 World Cup Global Qualifuers in Oman on February 17.