Submit your Article

Nepal reported 12 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 750 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 11 returned positive. Likewise, 739 people underwent antigen tests, of which one was tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 36  infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 375 active cases in the country.

South Korea reported 93,001 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Saturday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 16,305,752, the health authorities said Sunday, Xinhua reported.

The daily caseload was down from 107,916 recorded in the previous day and far lower than 164,456 a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The health authorities believed that the daily caseload has been on the decline following the resurgence, driven by the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2, which peaked in mid-March.

Among the new cases, 18 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 31,585.

The number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 893, down 20 from the previous day, according to Xinhua.

A total of 203 more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 21,092. The total fatality rate was 0.13 percent.

The number of people who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines was 44,526,471, or 86.8 percent of the total population, and the figure for those getting booster jabs was 33,008,629, or 64.3 percent of the population, Xinhua reported.

The national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines, is conducting a direct flight from Kathmandu to Riyadh city of Saudi Arabia from April 22. 

Nepal Airlines (NA) informed that the wide-body A 330 plane was launching the flight to Saudi Arabia.

Executive Chairperson of Nepal Airlines Yubraj Adhikari told the Rashtriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) that the conduct of direct flights to Saudi Arabia is a matter of pride for the NA. Additional destinations would be explored and service expanded gradually.

NA has got flight permits for Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah. 

There will be two Kathmandu-Riyadh-Kathmandu flights in a week. The NA would expand the flights- thrice a week after studying the situation. The NA has been expanding the service in line with the initiative and direction of the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Prem Bahadur Ale.

The NA officials including Executive Chairperson had visited Saudi Arabia for flight permission two months back.

For now, the one-way flight costs Rs 37,000, according to NA Spokesperson Archana Khadka. Both the wide-body and narrow-body planes would be used for the flights. 

The inaugural flight would however be done by the wide-body aircraft.

At least seven persons died when a jeep they were traveling in met with an accident at Dandakharka in Waling Municipality-12 of Syangja district on Sunday. 

The identities of the deceased are yet to be established.

The Ward Police Office, Waling said that the six persons were injured in the incident. 

Among the injured, two have been referred to Pokhara for treatment while four are undergoing treatment at the Waling Primary Health Post in Syangja.

Police said that they are looking into the case.