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Heavy rain and flooding has killed 22 people, destroyed hundreds of homes and damaged crops in Afghanistan, which is already facing a humanitarian crisis, a disaster management official said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

The Taliban government, struggling to cope with the disaster that has affected more than a third of its provinces, will approach international relief organisations for help, officials said.

"Due to flooding and storms in 12 provinces, 22 people have died and 40 injured," said Hassibullah Shekhani, head of communications and information at Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority.

The rain and flooding was particularly severe in the western provinces of Badghis and Faryab and the northern province of Baghlan, according to Reuters.

Afghanistan has been suffering from drought in recent years, made worse by climate change, with low crop yields raising fears of serious food shortages.The weather has exacerbated problems of poverty caused by decades of war and then a drop in foreign aid and the freezing of assets abroad after the Taliban took over, and US-led forces withdrew, in August.

Shekhani said 500 houses were destroyed, 2,000 damaged, 300 head of livestock killed and some 3,000 acres of crops damaged.

He said the International Committee of the Red Cross was helping and officials would approach other international organisations for help.

The international community is grappling with how to help the country of some 40 million people without benefiting the Taliban, Reuters reported.

Nepal logged 17 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 336 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 15 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 435 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 15 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 217 active cases in the country. 

The Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus is intrinsically as severe as previous variants, unlike assumptions made in previous studies that it was more transmissible but less severe, a large study in the United States has found, Reuters reported.

"We found that the risks of hospitalisation and mortality were nearly identical between periods," said four scientists who conducted the study based on records of 1,30,000 COVID-19 patients, referring to times in the past two years when different variants were dominant across the world.

The study, which is undergoing peer review at Nature Portfolio and was posted on Research Square on May 2, was adjusted for confounders, including demographics, vaccination status, and the Charlson comorbidity index that predicts the risk of death within a year of hospitaliSation for patients with specific comorbid conditions.

The studies that assumed that the Omicron variant was less severe were conducted in various places, including South Africa, Scotland, England, and Canada, said the scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital, Minerva University and Harvard Medical School, according to Reuters.

They said their study could have several limitations, including the possibility that it underestimated the number of vaccinated patients in more recent COVID waves, and the total number of infections, because it excluded patients who performed at-home rapid tests.

The United States of America is to provide $ 659 million (equivalent to Rs 79.71 billion) to Nepal for supporting its goal of graduating to a middle-income country.

Ishwori Prasad Aryal, Joint Secretary and Head of International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division (IECCD), Ministry of Finance and Ms. Sepideh Keyvanshad, USAID/Nepal Mission Director, signed and exchanged the agreement on behalf their respective governments at a programme organized at the Ministry today.

Termed as new Development Objective Agreement, this assistance agreement will span five years. It outlines the broad development areas of US and Nepal cooperation and collaboration.

Partnering with the Government of Nepal, civil society, and the private sector, US assistance will advance Nepal's sustainable development through strengthened democratic governance, enterprise-driven economic growth and increased resilience for communities most at-risk to natural disasters and climate change.

The amount of assistance will be recorded in the GoN Red Book and transparently implemented through both on and off treasury modalities. USAID will develop projects under this assistance agreement in collaboration with line ministries and implemented in accordance with GoN rules and regulations.

Delivering a short remark following the signing ceremony, Aryal expressed, "In 1951, after signing the Point Four program, the United States became the first bilateral donor to Nepal. This began a 70 plus year relationship of trust, mutual respect, and commitment to the people of Nepal."

He further added that Nepal has greatly benefited from the financial and technical assistance extended by the United States to help drive Nepal's socioeconomic development. He expressed that the Assistance Agreement as a departure agreement for both governments due to the fact that, for the first time in this enduring partnership, US assistance will be fully reflected in GoN's Red Book.

Similarly, Keyvanshad noted, "Today we add a new chapter to our long-standing partnership with the Government of Nepal and the Nepali people. We look forward to continuing the US government's long-term commitment to support activities that strengthen Nepal's democracy, governance, and economic growth across the country."

This year, the United States government and the Government of Nepal are celebrating 75 years of bilateral relationship. The Government of Nepal expresses its sincere appreciation to the Government of the United States of America for its invariable support in socioeconomic development and advancements of human resources of Nepal. Both governments acknowledge the partnership has seen many successes and look forward to continuing in the spirit of strong collaboration, the Ministry of Finance and the USAID said in a joint press release.