Submit your Article

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.

The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday it held "fruitful technical discussions" with Sri Lanka on its loan request, while the World Bank said it was preparing an emergency aid package for the crisis-stricken country, Reuters reported.

Sri Lanka, an island country of 22 million people, is struggling to pay for imports amid a crushing debt crisis and sharp drop in foreign exchange reserves that has fueled soaring inflation. Prolonged power cuts and shortages of fuel, food and medicines have sparked nationwide protests.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ali Sabry has been in Washington this week talking to the IMF, the World Bank, India and others about financing help for his country, which has suspended payments on portions of its $51 billion in external debt.

The World Bank's emergency response package includes $10 million to be made immediately available for the purchase of essential medicines, funds shifted from its ongoing COVID-19 health preparedness project, a World Bank spokesperson said.

The global lender, which along with the IMF held its spring meetings this week, did not provide a total value for its package, but Sabry said on Friday that about $500 million in aid was being considered, according to Reuters.

The World Bank spokesperson said the package would leverage existing bank-financed projects and repurpose funds to quickly provide medicines, meals for school children and cash transfers for poor and vulnerable households.

Support to provide cooking gas, basic food supplies, seeds and fertilizers and other essentials is also under discussion, the spokesperson said, adding that the World Bank was "deeply concerned" about the situation in Sri Lanka.

The IMF said in a statement on Saturday that talks between its staff focused on the need for Sri Lanka to implement "a credible and coherent strategy" to restore macroeconomic stability, and to strengthen its social safety net and protect the poor and vulnerable during the current crisis.

"The IMF team welcomed the authorities' plan to engage in a collaborative dialogue with their creditors," IMF Sri Lanka mission chief Masahiro Nozaki said in a statement after the country took steps to explore a restructuring of some $12 billion in sovereign bonds, Reuters reported.

Sabry told reporters on Friday that the talks with the IMF were focused on a more traditional Extended Fund Facility program, but that $3 billion to $4 billion in bridge financing was needed while this could be finalized. 

The IMF has said that Sri Lanka's debt needs to be put on a sustainable path before it could make new loans to Colombo - a process that could require lengthy negotiations with China and the country's other creditors. 

Sabry said on Friday that in addition to the IMF loan and World Bank assistance, Sri Lanka is discussing with India some $1.5 billion in bridge financing to help continue essential imports, and added that he has also approached China, Japan and the Asian Development Bank for help, according to Reuters.

Shanghai authorities battling an outbreak of COVID-19 have erected mesh barriers outside some residential buildings, sparking fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city’s 25 million people to stay home, Reuters reported.

Images of white hazmat suit-clad workers sealing entrances of housing blocks and even closing off entire streets with roughly two metre-tall green fencing went viral on social media on Saturday, prompting questions and complaints from residents.

“Isn’t this a fire hazard?,” said one user on social media platform Weibo.

“This is so disrespectful of the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to enclose them like domestic animals,” said another.

The Shanghai government did not respond to a request for comment.

Most of the barriers appeared to have been erected around compounds designated as “sealed areas”, which are buildings where at least one person has tested positive for COVID-19 and so whose residents are forbidden from leaving their front doors.

Reuters was not able to verify the authenticity of all of the photos and videos.

Shanghai, China’s largest city and most important economic hub, is battling the country’s biggest-ever COVID-19 outbreak with a policy that forces all positive cases into central quarantine facilities, according to Reuters.

The lockdown, which for many residents has lasted over three weeks, has fuelled frustration over difficulties accessing food and medical care as well as over lost wages, family separation, conditions at quarantine centres, and censorship of efforts to vent online.

It has also exacted a toll on the world’s second-largest economy, with factory efforts to resume production disrupted by snarled supply chains and difficulties faced by locked-down residents returning to work.

The city reported 39 new deaths from COVID-19 for April 23, versus 12 the previous day and by far the most during the current outbreak.

It did not report any deaths from COVID-19 during the first few weeks of its latest case surge, fuelling doubt among residents about the figures. It has since reported 87 fatalities from COVID-19, all in the past seven days.

New case numbers ticked down slightly for Saturday, but remained in the tens of thousands. Shanghai recorded 19,657 new local asymptomatic cases, versus 20,634 a day earlier, and 1,401 symptomatic cases, down from 2,736, Reuters reported.

China largely succeeded in keeping COVID-19 at bay following the initial outbreak in Wuhan in late 2019, with a “dynamic zero” policy aimed at stamping out all chains of infection.

That approach has been increasingly challenged by the spread of the highly infectious but less deadly Omicron variant, which has led numerous cities to impose various levels of movement restrictions that have been a further drag on the economy.

Nationwide, China reported 20,285 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases for April 23, versus 21,423 a day earlier, with 1,580 symptomatic cases, down from 2,988.

The capital Beijing recorded 22 new COVID-19 cases - all locally transmitted - compared to six the day before, according to Reuters.

Two persons died when a motorbike they were riding on met with an accident at Kandaghari of Kathmandu on Sunday.

The deceased have been identified as Kamal Ale Magar (32) and Gopal Ale Magar (22) of Sunkoshi Rural Municipality-6, Okhaldhunga.

The incident occurred when the two wheeler (Ba 50 Pa 9936) hit an electricity pole at around 5: 30 am today.

Metropolitan Police Circle, Kandaghari said that the duo died during the course of treatment at the Mahankal-based Trauma Center at around 6 am.