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Narayani Hospital in Nepal's southern city of Birgunj has its own health care waste treatment center now, bringing much relief to those inside and around the health facility. The health care waste management center was inaugurated on Thursday at the hospital, with a ceremony held to mark the handover of essential healthcare equipment for the operation of the center, Xinhua reported. The center is equipped with a set of autoclave machines, which use steam to kill harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores. Under a project run by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with financial support from China's Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF), the hospital has also received medical equipment and parts like segregation chambers, medical trolleys, waste bins, needle cutters and personal protective equipment to ensure proper waste management. In addition, 20 officials and 45 others from the hospital have been trained on standard operating procedures regarding health care waste management. The waste treatment center was built in an area where all types of waste were piled up without segregation in the past, and it came as a huge relief to patients, hospital staff and those living around the hospital. "I had been living with the stench of garbage for the last several years," said Krishnaa Barma, a senior nurse from Narayani Hospital. "This waste management facility has brought me and my other colleagues who live in the building near this facility a huge relief." Sachin Shrestha, a grocery shop owner, had to burn incense to dilute the stench of hospital garbage. "I did not believe that such a quick transformation took place here in the last two weeks or so when the waste management facility was set up," he said. The stench was not the only trouble for locals, birds had also carried medical waste to their homes in the recent past. "The birds even brought waste created during the delivery of a baby," recalled Anupa Gautam, a local resident. For poor children who used to collect garbage, the medical waste rendered them vulnerable to various diseases including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B because of used needles left in the garbage, according to hospital officials, according to Xinhua. Things are turning for the better after Narayani Hospital became one of the very few hospitals in the city to have its own waste treatment system. In Birgunj, there are only two hospitals running their own waste treatment plant, said Rajeshman Singh, mayor of the border city. "The metropolitan city has its own two small waste treatment plants and we use them to sterilize hazardous garbage collected from various hospitals," he added. At Narayani Hospital, the largest in Madhesh Province with 300 beds, 170.26 kg of waste was generated per day, according to an assessment conducted in 2020. "As much as 15 percent of the total garbage is hazardous, according to a recent assessment," said Sruti Sah, head of the hospital's nursing department. Along with the operation of the waste treatment center, Narayani Hospital has started to collect and segregate all the non-disposable items such as plastic, gloves and metal. "We plan to sell these items and make an income, which we can use to fund the sanitation staff," said Sah. Besides Nepal, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos are also covered by the project of Learning from China's Experience to Improve the Ability of Response to COVID-19 in Asia and the Pacific Region, with technical support from the Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Center under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, China National Health Development Research Center under the National Health Commission, and Tsinghua University/Basel Convention Regional Center for Asia and the Pacific. In addition to Narayani Hospital, six other hospitals in Nepal are covered under the project as well. Addressing the inauguration and handover ceremony at Narayani Hospital, UNDP Nepal's Deputy Representative Bernardo Cocco voiced his hope that the new waste management system would allow the hospital to provide better health care services in Birgunj, Xinhua reported. To mark the occasion, a representative from the Chinese Embassy in Nepal congratulated the handover ceremony. China always put the people first, for nothing in the world is more precious than people's lives, the representative said, expressing hope that the program can "keep on bringing safer health services to the communities and benefiting the local people." "China is ready to provide the most needed medical expertise and critical supplies," the representative added.

Nepal reported 63 new Covid-19 cases on Friday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 941 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 30 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 594 people underwent antigen tests, of which 33 were tested positive. The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 103 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 1, 004 active cases in the country.

Protests continued in several cities across Iran on Thursday against the death of young woman in police custody, state and social media reported, as a human rights group said at least 83 people had been killed in nearly two weeks of demonstrations, Reuters reported.

Mahsa Amini, 22, from the Iranian Kurdish town of Saqez, was arrested this month in Tehran for "unsuitable attire" by the morality police that enforces the Islamic Republic's strict dress code for women.

Her death has sparked the first big show of opposition on Iran's streets since authorities crushed protests against a rise in gasoline prices in 2019.

"At least 83 people including children, are confirmed to have been killed in (the) #IranProtests," Iran Human Rights, a Norway-based group, said on Twitter.

Despite the growing death toll and a fierce crackdown by authorities, videos posted on Twitter showed demonstrators calling for the fall of the clerical establishment in Tehran, Qom, Rasht, Sanandaj, Masjed-i-Suleiman and other cities.

State television said police had arrested a large number of "rioters", without giving figures.

Rights groups said dozens of activists, students and artists have been detained and the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Twitter that it had learned that security forces had arrested at least 28 journalists as of Sept. 29, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday she wanted the European Union to impose sanctions on Iran following Amini's death.

Rescue crews piloted boats and waded through inundated streets Thursday to save thousands of Floridians trapped amid flooded homes and shattered buildings left by Hurricane Ian,which crossed into the Atlantic Ocean and churned toward South Carolina, Associated Press reported.

Hours after weakening to a tropical storm while crossing the Florida peninsula, Ian regained hurricane strength Thursday evening over the Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center predicted it would hit South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane Friday, with winds picking up to 80 mph (129 kph) near midnight Thursday.

The devastation inflicted on Florida came into focus a day after Ian struck as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest storms ever to hit the U.S. It flooded homes on both the state’s coasts, cut off the only road access to a barrier island, destroyed a historic waterfront pier and knocked out electricity to 2.67 million Florida homes and businesses — nearly a quarter of utility customers.

Four people were confirmed dead in Florida. They included two residents of hard-hit Sanibel Island along Florida’s west coast, Sanibel city manager Dana Souza said late Thursday. Three other people were reported killed in Cuba after the hurricane struck there on Tuesday.

In the Fort Myers area, homes had been ripped from their slabs and deposited among shredded wreckage. Businesses near the beach were completely razed, leaving twisted debris. Broken docks floated at odd angles beside damaged boats and fires smoldered on lots where houses once stood.

“I don’t know how anyone could have survived in there,” William Goodison said amid the wreckage of the mobile home park in Fort Myers Beach where he’d lived for 11 years. Goodison rode out the storm at his son’s house inland.

The hurricane tore through the park of about 60 homes, many of them destroyed or mangled beyond repair, including Goodison’s single-wide home. Wading through waist-deep water, Goodison and his son wheeled two trash cans containing what little he could salvage — a portable air conditioner, some tools and a baseball bat.

The road into Fort Myers was littered with broken trees, boat trailers and other debris. Cars were left abandoned in the road, having stalled when the storm surge flooded their engines, according to Associated Press.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at least 700 rescues, mostly by air, have been conducted so far and involving the US Coast Guard, the National Guard and urban search-and-rescue teams.

After leaving Florida as a tropical storm Thursday and entering the Atlantic Ocean north of Cape Canaveral, Ian spun up into a hurricane again with winds of 75 mph (120 kph).

A hurricane warning was issued for the South Carolina coast and extended to Cape Fear on the southeastern coast of North Carolina. With tropical-storm force winds reaching about 415 miles (665 kilometers) from its center, Ian was forecast to shove storm surge of 5 feet (1.5 meters) into coastal areas in Georgia and the Carolinas. Rainfall of up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) threatened flooding from South Carolina to Virginia.

National Guard troops were being positioned in South Carolina to help with the aftermath, including any water rescues. On Thursday afternoon, a steady stream of vehicles left Charleston, a 350-year-old city.

Sheriffs in southwest Florida said 911 centers were inundated by thousands of stranded callers, some with life-threatening emergencies. The U.S. Coast Guard began rescue efforts hours before daybreak on barrier islands near where Ian struck, DeSantis said. More than 800 federal urban search-and-rescuers were also in the area, Associated Press reported.