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India’s top medical education regulator on Tuesday warned students against enrolling in Chinese universities as the country continues to ban the entry of foreign students in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hindustan Times reported.

The warning by the National Medical Commission (NMC) was issued after India’s external affairs ministry was alerted that a some Chinese medical universities were inviting applications for admission to MBBS programmes for the current and upcoming academic years – despite a ban on foreign students from entering China.

It means students who enrol in these Chinese universities this academic year would likely have to take classes online for the near future, and, as a law, only online medical degrees are not recognised in India, the NMC said.

The NMC notice pointed out that thousands of Indian medical students studying in China are stranded in India because of the travel restrictions for more than two years, jeopardising their careers.

In the context of admission notices from Chinese universities, the NMC said, “any prospective student needs to be aware that the Government of People’s Republic of China has imposed strict travel restrictions in the wake of Covid-19 and suspended all visas since November 2020”.

“A large number of international students including Indian students have not been able to return to China to continue their studies due to these restrictions. Thus far, there has been no relaxation in the restrictions,” the notice added.

It said Chinese authorities had conveyed earlier that the courses will be conducted online until the restrictions are lifted.

“As per the extant (existing) rules, National Medical Commission does not recognise or approve medical courses done only by online mode,” the notice said.

Before applying to Chinese or any foreign institution, students have been advised by the NMC to carefully go through the “FMGE (foreign medical graduates) Regulations”, which are mandatory requirements for an Indian studying medicine abroad.

“In view of the above, students are advised to exercise due diligence in choosing where to pursue medical education from,” the NMC said.

The NMC notice was issued on Tuesday, the same day when the Chinese foreign ministry declined to commit on the issue of allowing stranded Indian students back in China, days after offering to arrange for Pakistani students to return to resume on-campus learning.

The foreign ministry said it was considering the return of thousands of international students stranded abroad to China in a “coordinated manner” but declined to elaborate when it was planning to do so.

More than 23,000 Indian students study in China, the majority enrolled in medical universities.

All but a handful had returned to India in a staggered manner in 2020 following the Covid-19 outbreak in China but are now stranded in their home country because Beijing has banned foreign students from returning to universities.

As many as five persons died when a fire broke out at a shoe factory in Tulsipur of Dang on Friday.

The identities of the deceased are yet to be established.

Police said that the fire broke out at the Iram Footwear at around 2 am today.

DSP Shyamu Aryal of the Area Police Office, Tulsipur said that the fire was later taken under contol with the help of Nepal Police, Nepal Army and Armed Police Force personnel backed by fire engines from Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City and Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City.

The cause behind the fire was electric short circuit.

Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering America’s consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy, Associated Press reported.

The Labor Department said Thursday that consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month compared with 12 months earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982. Shortages of supplies and workers, heavy doses of federal aid, ultra-low interest rates and robust consumer spending combined to send inflation accelerating in the past year.

When measured from December to January, inflation was 0.6%, the same as the previous month and more than economists had expected. Prices had risen 0.7% from October to November and 0.9% from September to October.

There are few signs that inflation will slow significantly anytime soon. Most of the factors that have forced up prices since last spring remain in place: Wages are rising at the fastest pace in at least 20 years. Ports and warehouses are overwhelmed, with hundreds of workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s busiest, out sick last month. Many products and parts remain in short supply as a result.

Nepal logged 1, 369 new Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths on Thursday. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 8,880 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 1,013 returned positive. Likewise, 3,000 people underwent antigen tests, of which 365 tested positive.

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 1,170,986. Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 11,864.

The Ministry said that 2,238 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Valley reported 239 new cases today.

According to the Ministry, 235 cases are reported in Kathmandu, 64 in Lalitpur and 30 in Bhaktapur.