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Philadelphia became the first major US city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate on Monday after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an omicron subvariant, Associated Press reported.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which the city’s guidelines call for people to wear masks indoors, said Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, the health commissioner. Health officials believe the recent spike is being driven by the highly transmissible BA.2 subvariant of omicron, which has spread rapidly throughout Europe and Asia, and has become dominant in the US in recent weeks.

“If we fail to act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations, and then a wave of deaths, it will be too late for many of our residents,” said Bettigole, noting about 750 Philadelphia residents died in the wintertime omicron outbreak. “This is our chance to get ahead of the pandemic, to put our masks on until we have more information about the severity of this new variant.”

Health inspectors will begin enforcing the mask mandate at city businesses on April 18, according to the Associated Press.

Most states and cities dropped their masking requirements in February and early March following new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that put less focus on case counts and more on hospital capacity. The CDC said at that time that with the virus in retreat, most Americans could safely take off their masks. 

Philadelphia ended its indoor mask mandate March 2, and Bettigole acknowledged “it was wonderful to feel that sense of normalcy again.”

Confirmed cases have since risen to more than 140 per day — still a fraction of what Philadelphia saw at the height of the omicron surge — while only 46 patients are in the hospital with COVID-19. The CDC says community spread in Philadelphia remains low, a level at which the agency says that masking can be optional.

The restaurant industry pushed back against the city’s reimposed mask mandate, saying workers will bear the brunt of customer anger over the new rules.

“This announcement is a major blow to thousands of small businesses and other operators in the city who were hoping this spring would be the start of recovery,” said Ben Fileccia, senior director of operations at the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association, Associated Press reported.

PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said Friday that while it expects some increased transmission in the northern US over the next several weeks, hospital admissions have remained low and “our team advises against required masking given that hospital capacity is good.” 

Bettigole said requiring people to mask up will help restaurants and other businesses stay open, while a huge new wave of COVID-19 would keep customers at home. She said hospital capacity was just one factor that went into her decision to reinstate the mandate, Associated Press reported.

“I sincerely wish we didn’t have to do this again,” Bettigole said. “But I am very worried about our vulnerable neighbors and loved ones.”

Nepal reported 22 new Covid-19 cases on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 972 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 22 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 172 people underwent antigen tests, of which no one were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 46 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 568 active cases in the country.

One person was killed and another one injured in a communal clash in Khambhat city of Gujarat during a procession taken out on the occasion of Ram Navami on Sunday, while Himmatnagar city in the state also witnessed violence between members of two communities during a similar event, police said, The Economic Times reported.

The clashing groups indulged in stone-pelting and arson at both the places and the police had to lob tear gas shells to bring the situation under control, officials said.

While Khambhat city is located in Anand district, Himmatnagar lies in Sabarkantha district, according to The Economic Times.

“The body of an unidentified man, who appears to be around 65 years old, was recovered from the spot in Khambhat, where two groups pelted each other with stones after a clash broke out between them during a Ram Navami procession late this afternoon,” Superintendent of Police Ajeet Rajyan said.

Another person was injured and a few shop cabins were set on fire by the miscreants during the incident, he said.

Three persons died after being hit by a car near BP Chowk in Nepalgunj on Sunday. 

The deceased have been identified as Samina Idrisi (65) of Nepalgunj-11, Ali Idrisi and five-year-old Kasim Idrisi, said Police Inspector Himalaya Shah Chief of Banke District Traffic Police Office.

Inspector Shah further said that the car (Province 3-01-23 Cha 8481) hit the pedestrians last night. 

The car driver had taken all the critically injured pedestrians to the Teaching Hospital Nepalgunj. 

The hospital pronounced them dead after 15 minutes of their arrival. 

Police arrested car driver Indra Bahadur Thapa (28) of Nepalgunj sub-metropolitan city-10 and started an investigation into the incident, Inspector Shah said. RSS