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Shanghai reported nearly 25,000 locally transmitted Covid-19 infections on Sunday, as residents of China's most populous city voiced complaints over food and basic supplies and concern spread that more cities may soon be in the same situation, Reuters reported.

Streets of the locked-down financial hub of 26 million people remained as curbs under the city's "zero tolerance" policy allow only healthcare workers, volunteers, delivery personnel or those with special permission to go out.

Shanghai's case numbers are small compared to some cities globally, but it is battling China's worst Covid outbreak since the virus emerged in the central city of Wuhan in 2019. Of the local cases Shanghai reported on Sunday, 1,006 were symptomatic while 23,937 were classed as asymptomatic, which China counts separately.

The city has become a test bed for China's elimination strategy, which seeks to test, trace and centrally quarantine all Covid-positive people to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The curbs have sharply squeezed supplies of food and other essentials. Many supermarkets have been shut and thousands of couriers locked in. Access to medical care has also been a concern, according to Reuters.

Online videos show residents struggling with security personnel and hazmat-suited medical staff at some compounds in recent days, with occupants shouting that they need food.

Executives for e-commerce giants JD.com and food delivery service Ele.me attended the city's daily briefing, seeking to convince residents that bottlenecks would ease.

JD.com vice president Wang Wenbo said he understands concerns about delivery speed and that the company is focussing on basic foodstuffs and baby care items. Ele.me senior vice president Xiao Shuixian said his company had brought 2,800 more delivery workers in over the past week.

Citizens in several cities expressed anxiety in social media groups that their cities might also go into lockdown, with screenshots shared of maps showing various highways closed across the country, Reuters reported.

Many of the closures may be due to local governments implementing their own measures.

On Saturday the Ministry of Transport said it met with other government departments to work on standardising highway pandemic checkpoints as restrictions at the local level were causing congestion for critical supplies, the ministry said.

A video circulating on social media appeared to show lorries departing Shanghai being scanned with-hand held detectors to make sure no one was trying to leave the city hidden inside. Reuters was not able to confirm the video's authenticity.

The Ram Nawami festival, the birthday of Hindu God Ram, is being celebrated across the country on Sunday.

Lord Ram, who was born to the then King of Ayodhya, Dashrath and his first queen Kaushalyawati, is considered the seventh incarnation of God Bisnhu.

As per the Hindu mythology, it was God Ram who triumphed over Ravana, the then King of Lanka, a symbol of demonic and evil powers, and established peace and harmony in the society.

The ninth day of the month of Chaitra on Shukla Paksha or the period of waxing moon, in the Lunar calendar is celebrated as the Ram Nawami, in commemoration of the birth of Lord Ram, said religious scholar Prof Dr Ramchandra Gautam.

Ram, who is considered as an ideal man and the embodiment of perfect manhood and high morale, was born in the Treta Yug for the protection of virtue.
Devotees visit the temples of Lord Ram and perform special pooja on the occasion. RSS

Tourism - one of the sources of Nepal's economy - is gradually limping back to normalcy after being battered by the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years.

This spring season witnessed a considerable number of foreign tourists arriving in Nepal with a total of 42,006 tourists coming via air route in March alone.

Last year, 14,977 foreign tourists had visited Nepal during the same period. According to statistics of the Department of Tourism, Nepal has received a total of 78,747 foreign tourists from January to March end this year.

The government has formed a Tourism Revival Steering Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, which is tasked with taking initiatives to revive the tourism industry by exploring new possibilities, identifying and promoting tourism industry and creating enabling investment climate in the tourism sector, among others.

The Nepal Tourism Board has been organising Travel Mart in all the seven provinces.

Fewa Festival is going to be held on April 13 and 14. A team of foreign chefs led by MasterChef UK contest winner Santosh Shah will reach various destinations for 10 days and participate in tourism promotional events with special focus on culinary tourism.

Mahesh Phuyal, general-manager of Ramada Encore, a 4-star hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu, said the hotel had 70 per cent occupancy lately.

"The hotel comprising 90-rooms mostly has American, Indian and European tourists," he shared.

The inflow of foreign tourists has enthused tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara, one of the popular tourist destinations in the country.

Bharatra Parajuli, a local entrepreneur, said tourism entrepreneurs like him were upbeat due to the increasing number of tourism activities in Pokhara. He said development and promotion of adventure tourism destinations in and around Pokhara, famed for lakes and natural landscapes, had helped boost the country's tourism.

Similarly, Hotel Association of Nepal's Acting President Binayak Shah shared that the hotels in Pokhara were receiving so many inquiries lately. He opined that tourism had been gradually reviving in Nepal after two years of pandemic-induced crisis.

Likewise, Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal former vice-president Nilhari Bastola has suggested that the government of Nepal spread the message that Nepal is ready and open to tourists, to revive tourism in Nepal. According to him, this can be done through foreign ambassadors and consuls stationed in Nepal.

He further recommended that the government devise attractive packages such as free visa for a month, among others, to bolster the influx of foreign tourists.

NTB's CEO Dr Dhananjay Regmi informed that the number of tourists from India and Bangladesh had increased significantly as the Board had conducted targeted promotional events in these countries.

Echoing Shah, Regmi said tourism in Nepal, which was plagued by COVID-19 was slowly coming back into normalcy.

He stressed the need to facilitate Indian tourists arriving Nepal by roadways through various border points. RSS

The historically famous and important Biska Jatra of Bhaktapur has begun from today.

The Biska Jatra, which begins with the arrival of the New Year, begins this evening by pulling the chariot of Nakinju Azima to Ghatkha from the front of the Panchatle temple in Tamari and pulling the chariot of Bhairavnath.

The Jatra is celebrated with much fanfare for eight nights and nine days.

Before pulling the chariot, Bhairavnath is worshipped and the pilgrims pull the chariot with the help of ropes attached to the front and take it to their respective tole. The main attraction of the procession is pulling the chariot, which is also done in a competitive manner among the toles or settlement blocks.

There is a religious belief that watching the Biska Jatra destroys the enemy, so this Jatra is also called Shatruhanta Jatra.

On the last day of the procession, Bhairavnath’s chariot is pulled from Gahiti as it was on the first day by the residents of Thane and Kwane Tole.

Meanwhile, Chief District Officer Rudra Devi Sharma said that a strategy has been prepared after holding discussions with the stakeholders to complete the Jatra in a dignified and timely manner.

Metropolitan Police Chief Shiva Kumar Shrestha informed that 950 Nepal Police and 400 Armed Police personnel will be mobilized for the Jatra. The CCTV cameras have been installed at the crossroads to identify the rioters during the Jatra. RSS