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A massive fire broke out at a freed Kamaiya's settlement in Bipatpur of Kailari Rural Municipality-7, Kailali district on Sunday.

The District Police Office, Kailali said that more than 70 houses were destroyed in the fire.

DSP Bed Prasad Joshi, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Kailali said police personnel deputed from local police post, Bhajan Police Post with the help of locals and fire engines from Ghodaghadi Municipality, Tikapur Municipality and Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City are trying to douse the flame.

Nepal reported 13 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 4, 255 swab samples were tested today, of which 13 returned positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 25 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 269 active cases in the country.

The Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has resumed distributing water of the Melamchi River in the Kathmandu Valley from today.

Minister for Water Supply, Umakant Chaudhary  inaugurated the re-distribution by turning on a valve at Kathamandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) Baneshwor branch office today.

According to the KUKL, it plans to supply 50 million litres of water pumped from the Sindhupalchowk-based Melamchi River.

The water will be supplied from just two KUKL branches at Mahankal Chaur and New Baneshwor today and the distribution coverage will be extended gradually.

Melamchi water supplies got halted due to rain-caused damages on the project in last July.

On the occasion, Minister Chaudhary said the water supplies resorted as per the commitments he made while assuming the post.

As he said, some of the damaged water project structures are yet to be resorted and the supply was made possible through the diversion technology for the time being.

The minister informed the Asian Development Bank, the development partner of Nepal, is carrying out a study in detail in regard with damages on the source's upper coastal area.

He said the project structures damaged by the massive flooding on June 1 last year will be repaired in coordination of all the agencies concerned after the study report is submitted. "An early warning system has been installed at the project site in Melamchi to prevent flood damages," he said.

Ministry secretary Suresh Acharya shared that water has been brought from the Melamchi river through a temporary process for the time being.

Water would be distributed from 10 reservoirs in the Kathmandu Valley. He added that water from the Bagmati river would be distributed if the Melamchi project tunnel had to be closed during the monsoon.

Kathmandu Upatyaka Water Supply Management Board executive director Sanjeev Bikram Rana said unlike last year water from the Melamchi would be distributed to Bhaktapur as well this time. As he said, water would be distributed to every house in a gap of one or two days.

Chief of the Project Implementation Directorate, Rajendra Sapkota informed that the Directorate has constructed the structures necessary for supplying water from Sundarijal to the houses of the consumers. According to him, the construction of the required structures has been completed.

KUKL chief executive officer Milan Shakya said although water was supplied for some time last year, it had to be stopped due to the damages caused by the massive flooding last year. He said the people are now hopeful of getting uninterrupted supply of water.

KUKL Baneshwor Branch chief Narayan Karna said the Branch has informed consumers about the distribution of water by publishing the time schedule.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has pledged to support Nepal in strengthening its health emergency preparedness and priorities of health sector.

Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada said this at a press meet organised here today to share information about WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' recent three-day goodwill visit to Nepal and discussions held in course of the visit. The WHO Director General's visit concluded on Saturday.

Nepal received commitments from the WHO for the establishment of a maternity and child health cooperation center focused on oncology, for the development of Vector Borne Disease Training and Research Center as the WHO Southeast Asian Regional Center, for manufacturing of emergency drugs, for the establishment of health industry relating to surgery and for opportunities and capacity enhancement of Nepali health experts.

"Director General Tedros has his concern over the National Public Health Laboratory," the Minister said, adding that the WHO chief had expressed his interest for assisting Nepal in the development of an advance genomic lab, for getting required equipment and for the tests.

More, the WHO high-level delegation responded to issues put forth before it by Nepal positively and pledged to take them towards implementation phase with the preparation of a required action plan. Nepal has the WHO support and cooperation in its health sector.