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NUWAKOT: Property worth around Rs 22 million was reduced to ashes when a fire broke out in Shivapuri Rural Municipality-8 of Nuwakot district on Sunday. Rupak Khadka, spokesperson at the District Police Office, Nuwakot, said that three houses and shops were destroyed in the fire that started from the fancy shop of Bijaya Thapa. The grocery shop of Hari Thapa and the hardware shop of Bijaya were also engulfed in the fire. The fire that started at around 8:30 pm was brought under control after five hours. The reason behind the fire is yet to be ascertained.

A new sub-variant of Corona Virus XBB has been detected for the first time in Nepal. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the variant was detected in a Nepali recently. The sub-variant was detected during genome sequencing conducted at the National Public Health Laboratory. The Ministry said that the new sub-variant of Omicron was detected during genome sequencing of some samples collected from the people of various age groups from August 6 to September 30. According to the World Health Organization, this variant has already been detected in 26 countries of the world. It has been said that this variant is more contagious than other variants detected in the past. Assistant spokesperson at the Ministry Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari said, “This variant has been spreading in other countries and the new Covid-19 cases have also been increasing in recent times.” He urged all the people to take precautions while celebrating the upcoming festivals.

Laxmi Puja and Kukur Tihar are being observed today by worshipping, garlanding and feeding cows and dogs. Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth, is being worshipped in every household today to mark the second day of the five-day Tihar festival –also known as the festival of lights – by lighting butter lamps and candles inside and outside of the households to light up the path of Goddess Laxmi in order to welcome her. Nepali Hindus worship Goddess Laxmi in the evening today wishing for prosperity. All the nooks and corners of the house are illuminated with colourful and decorative lights this evening in the belief that Goddess Laxmi does not visit places that are not properly illuminated, and so to please Goddess Laxmi, people light lamps and spend the whole night in vigil. The night of Laxmi Puja is also a start to the cultural prog rams like ‘Deusi’ and ‘Bhailo’, where people, said to be sent by the king Bali, visit different homes singing and dancing for the prosperity. In Kukur Tihar, dogs are worshipped as protectors of the house. A dog is the most loyal friend to human beings, and according to Hindu myth, dogs are regarded as the guards of Yama, the god of death.

Nepal reported 41 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 445 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 39 returned positive. Likewise, 805 people underwent antigen tests, of which two were tested positive. The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 59 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 696 active cases in the country.