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Nepal logged 17 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 905 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 17 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 105 people underwent antigen tests, of which no one were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 21 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 201 active cases in the country.

An unidentified person attacked a candidate with a khukuri in Bhojpuri on Saturday.

The District Police Office, Bhojpur said that Amita Tamang, a ward member candidate of Sangpang, Sadananda Municipality-10, was attacked at around 10 pm yesterday.

Police said that Tamang sustained deep cuts on his head.

Further investigation into the incident is underway.

China's top leader Xi Jinping has issued the strongest warning yet against anyone who questions the country's zero-Covid policy, as stringent, frequent lockdowns fuel public discontent and deal a devastating blow to the Chinese economy, CNN reported.

At a meeting chaired by Xi on Thursday, the ruling Communist Party's supreme Politburo Standing Committee vowed to "unswervingly adhere to the general policy of 'dynamic zero-Covid,' and resolutely fight against any words and acts that distort, doubt or deny our country's epidemic prevention policies."

This is the first time Xi, who according to state media made an "important speech" at the meeting, has made public remarks about China's battle against Covid since public furor erupted over the harsh lockdown in Shanghai.

"Our prevention and control strategy is determined by the party's nature and mission, our policies can stand the test of history, our measures are scientific and effective," the seven-member committee said, according to government news agency Xinhua.

"We have won the battle to defend Wuhan, and we will certainly be able to win the battle to defend Shanghai," it said.

The Standing Committee also demanded cadres have a "profound, complete and comprehensive understanding" of the policies set by the party's central leadership, according to CNN.

"We should resolutely overcome the problems of inadequate awareness, inadequate preparation and insufficient work, and resolutely overcome contempt, indifference and self-righteousness in our thinking," it said.

To analysts who have long observed Chinese politics, the stern warning is a sign that there has been internal pushback against Xi's zero-Covid policy from within the party.

"This language should be read as a direct criticism of unspecified local CCP leaders who have questioned the policies at the center, or who have been insufficiently successful in applying them," wrote David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project.

"And it is difficult not to hear in this phrase about 'self-righteousness' condemnation of leaders in Shanghai in particular," Bandurski added.

Over the past five weeks, many Shanghai residents have taken to social media to call for help and vent their anger over severe food shortages and lack of access to medical care. Some protested from their windows, banging pots and pans and shouting in frustration, others even clashed with police and health workers in the streets -- a rare scene in a country where dissent is routinely suppressed.

The grave economic fallout has also drawn concerns from economists and business executives, especially given Shanghai's role as the country's leading financial center and a major manufacturing and shipping hub. In April, China's services sector, which accounts for more than half of the nation's GDP and over 40% of its employment, contracted at the second sharpest pace on record, while the manufacturing sector also shrunk, CNN reported.

And as Omicron spreads in other parts of China, more local governments are imposing swift lockdowns in response to just a handful of cases. In Beijing, where more than 500 cases have been reported since April 20, many fear for a Shanghai-style lockdown as authorities roll out increasingly restrictions.

But the latest statement from the country's top leaders has made it clear that the Chinese government is doubling down on its approach of relying on swift lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine to squash the highly transmissible Omicron variant for the foreseeable future.

Wu Qiang, a political analyst in Beijing, said since April, the question over how the government should deal with the country's worst outbreak since Wuhan has evolved into a "path struggle" within the party, according to CNN.

Thousands of foreigners are believed to be living and working in Nepal illegally. These include undocumented refugees (from the Middle East, Myanmar and Bangladesh) as well as those who enter the country on valid visas only to stay on well past their expiry and engage in dubious dealings. As China has looked to tighten the screws on its nationals involved in illegal activities in Southeast Asia, many of them have upped sticks and shifted to countries like Nepal with relatively laxer law-enforcement.

In the past, the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu has itself requested for Nepal’s help in rounding up and deporting its nationals back to the homeland. For instance, in 2019, Nepal arrested and deported 122 Chinese nationals who were involved in various fraudulent activities online.

Most recently, on April 22, Nepali law-enforcement authorities nabbed another 22 suspicious Chinese nationals. Thirty-five laptops, 675 mobile-phone sets and 760 Nepali SIM cards were confiscated from them. Investigation continues. But those arrested have already been let go as the police are confused about the crime they should be charged with. (Their passports have been confiscated though.) Nepal currently does not have the manpower or the technology to investigate complex cross-border online transactions.

What police know for sure thus far is that the 22 suspects conducted their business using various apps with servers in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Yet without the right technology or manpower, Nepal Police have found it devilishly difficult to properly trace these transactions.

The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu chose not to respond to a request for comment.

Full story here: Probe into 22 Chinese nationals gets knotty