Submit your Article

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has sought suggestions for the monetary policy.

The NRB sought the suggestions from the stakeholders for the monetary policy as per NRB Act, 2058 for the fiscal year, 2079/80.

Clause 44 of Section-5 under the NRB Act has given full authority to the NRB to formulate and implement the monetary policy. For this, the economic investigation department at NRB has said anyone can furnish (email) the suggestions at [email protected].

Earlier, the NRB had made public the monetary policy for the existing fiscal year on July 13, 2021. Generally, monetary policy is made public after a month of the budget announcement.

Multiple Chinese cities are adopting fresh COVID-19 curbs, from business halts to lockdowns, to rein in new infections, with the commercial hub of Shanghai bracing for another mass testing campaign after detecting the BA.5 Omicron subvariant, Reuters reported.

As China sticks to its "dynamic zero-COVID" policy of promptly stamping out all outbreaks, the strict curbs by local governments come despite low caseloads, at a time when much of the world co-exists with the virus.

The central government has said curbs must be as targeted as possible to reduce damage to the world's No. 2 economy, after this year's major disruptions clogged global supply chains and hit international trade. 

The highly-transmissible BA.5, which is driving outbreaks in many countries outside China, has shown signs of greater ability to escape vaccine-triggered antibody reactions than some other Omicron subvariants, health officials have said.

The discovery of one such infection in Shanghai could add pressure to quickly limit a nascent outbreak and avert more disruptive measures similar to the lockdown in April and May that roiled the global economy and markets.

Shanghai, China's most populous city of 25 million, has told people in several districts to get tested twice in another round of mass screening from Tuesday to Thursday, similar to last week's.

Its residents are already testing every few days to secure access to various locations and public transport.

Daily counts of locally transmitted infections in Shanghai increased to several dozens since July 5, up from single digits earlier this month, but are still tiny by global standards, according to Reuters.

Most of its recent cases have been among those already in quarantine. 

NEW CURBS ELSEWHERE

Mainland China reported 352 new domestically transmitted COVID infections on July 10, 46 of these symptomatic and 306 asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Monday.

In the central province of Henan, the town of Qinyang has almost completely locked down its nearly 700,000 residents from Sunday, with one person from each household allowed out every two days to get groceries.

In some areas, people have been told not to leave home at all. 

Four major districts in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, in Gansu province, and the southern cities of Danzhou and Haikou in Hainan province, are under temporary curbs for several days, with entertainment and cultural spaces shut. 

About 6 million people in the three cities are affected by the rules. 

The city of Nanchang in southern Jiangxi province, with 6.3 million residents, shut some entertainment venues on Saturday, although the duration of the curbs was not specified.

In the northwestern province of Qinghai, the city of Xining kicked off a mass testing campaign on Monday after one person tested positive on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Several major districts in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou also began mass tests on Monday.

Nepal reported 121 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 007 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 104 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 345 people underwent antigen tests, of which 17 were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 31 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 678 active cases in the country.

A mass shooting at a tavern in Johannesburg’s Soweto township has killed 14 people and left three others in critical condition, according to police, Associated Press reported.

Police say they are investigating reports that a group of men arrived in a minibus taxi and opened fire at the bar late on Saturday night. Police on Sunday morning launched an investigation into what had led to the mass shooting.

The three critically injured and one other wounded person were taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Johannesburg.

The number of cartridges found on the scene indicated it was a group of people who shot at the patrons, said the Gauteng province police commissioner, Lt Gen Elias Mawela.

“The primary investigation suggests that these people were enjoying themselves here, in a licensed tavern operating within the right hours,” Mawela told the Associated Press.

“All of a sudden they heard some gunshots, that is when people tried to run out of the tavern. We don’t have the full details at the moment of what is the motive, and why they were targeting these people,” he said.

“You can see that a high-calibre firearm was used and it was shooting randomly. You can see that every one of those people were struggling to get out of the tavern,” Mawela added.