Kathmandu: Nepal has reported a death related to Covid-19 after two and a half months.
According to the Ministry of Health and Population, a Covid-19 patient died in the course of treatment on Saturday.
In the last 24 hours, at least 135 persons tested positive for Covid-19.
Earlier, Nepal had reported a Covid-19-related death on May 4.
So far, 11,953 people have died of Covid-19 across Nepal. The total number of Covid-19 cases in Nepal has reached 1,122,336.
According to the news website Politico on Friday, which cited the Hungarian newspaper Népszava, the European Union Commission will take Hungary to court over its anti-LGBT law.
The June law, which allegedly forbids the use of materials viewed as encouraging homosexuality and gender change in schools, has caused concern in the LGBTQ+ community.
According to the Fidesz-Christian Democrat government, national governments should decide on things like LGBTQ rights and other social issues. It states that the law does not target the LGBTQ+ population but rather intends to protect youngsters.
The first case of monkeypox in WHO South-East Asia Region has been reported from India, in a 35-year old man who arrived from the Middle East earlier this week.
“The Region has been on alert for monkeypox. Countries have been taking measures to rapidly detect and take appropriate measures to prevent spread of monkeypox,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.
WHO has been supporting Member countries in the Region assess the risk for monkeypox and strengthen their capacities to prepare and respond to the evolving multi-country outbreak, she said.
Over 6 000 cases of monkeypox and three deaths have been reported from across 60 countries since the beginning of the year. More cases can be expected as surveillance expands.
Globally, and in the Region the risk is assessed as moderate. WHO convened a meeting of the Emergency Committee on 23 June 2022 to seek expert advice if the ongoing outbreak was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The committee recommended intense response to curtail the spread of the ongoing outbreak, in view of low population immunity against pox virus infection and risk of further sustained transmission into the wider population. The next meeting of the Emergency Committee has been convened on 21 July.
WHO has been sharing guidance for raising awareness; surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing; laboratory diagnostics and testing; clinical management and infection prevention and control; and community engagement, the Regional Director said.
In view of the limited testing capacities in the Region for monkeypox, WHO has coordinated with four laboratories to serve as referrals – National Institute of Virology, India; Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Australia; National Institute of Health, Department of Medical Sciences, Thailand; and Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
WHO is also supporting countries in the Region build testing capacities with technical assistance as well as procurement of required provisions that are high in demand and low in supplies globally.
Orienting clinicians in both public and private sectors to identify and report as well as appropriately treat cases of monkeypox, are among other the key priorities.
“Monkeypox requires collective attention and coordinated action to stop its further spread. In addition to using public health measures and ensuring health tools are available to at-risk populations and shared fairly, it is important to work with communities to ensure that people who are most at risk, have the information and support they need to protect themselves and others,” the Regional Director said.
Monkeypox virus is transmitted from infected animals to humans via indirect or direct contact. Human-to-human transmission can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or lesions, including face-to-face, skin-to-skin, and respiratory droplets.
In the current outbreak countries and amongst the reported monkeypox cases, transmission appears to be occurring primarily through close physical contact, including sexual contact. Transmission can also occur from contaminated materials such as linens, bedding, electronics, clothing, that have infectious skin particles.
Source: WHO
About 25 million children worldwide have missed out on routine immunizations against common diseases like Diptheria, largely because the coronavirus pandemic disrupted regular health services or triggered misinformation about vaccines, according to the UN.
In a new report published Friday, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF said their figures show 25 million children last year failed to get vaccinated against Diptheria, tetanus, and pertussis, a marker for childhood immunization coverage, continuing a downward trend that began in 2019.
“This is a red alert for child health,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s Executive Director. “We are witnessing the largest sustained drop in childhood immunization in a generation,” she said, adding that the consequences would be measured in lives lost. (AP)
Vietnam: Vietjet, a Vietnamese airline, announced on Thursday that it will offer service between Bengaluru and Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
Vietjet stated that the new routes are anticipated to be operational by the end of the year and that new direct flights will also be launched to other significant Indian cities at that time.
The news follows the Southeast Asian airline’s recent introduction of direct services between New Delhi, Mumbai, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City.
In addition, the airline has previously made known that it intends to begin operating flights from early September between Mumbai and New Delhi and Southeast Asia’s most popular beach resort, the Phu Quoc islands.
Colombo and Singapore: Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has submitted a letter of resignation, two government sources said on Friday, after he fled to Singapore following mass protests over his country’s economic meltdown.
Rajapaksa emailed a letter of resignation to the speaker of the country’s parliament late on Thursday, two sources said.
It was not immediately clear if the letter, sent shortly after Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore, would be accepted in email form, the sources added.
In commercial capital Colombo, troops patrolled the streets to enforce a curfew.
Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on Wednesday to escape a popular uprising over his family’s role in a crippling economic crisis, headed on to Singapore on a Saudi Arabian airline flight, according to a person familiar with the situation.
A passenger on the flight, who declined to be named, told Reuters that Rajapaksa was met by a group of security guards and was seen leaving the airport VIP area in a convoy of black vehicles.
Airline staff on the flight told Reuters the president, dressed in black, flew business class with his wife and two bodyguards, describing him as “quiet” and “friendly”.
Singapore’s foreign ministry said Rajapaksa had entered the country on a private visit, and had not sought or been granted asylum.
His decision on Wednesday to make his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming parliament and the premier’s office demanding that he quit too.
Reuters: The leaders of the United States and Israel pledged on Thursday to deny Iran nuclear weaponry, including through the possible use of “all elements of national power” available to Washington, according to a joint statement.
The statement, to be signed in Jerusalem by U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid later in the day, also reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel’s military superiority in the region, including with future defence grants.
Kathmandu: The government and the World Bank have signed an agreement equivalent to USD 80 million (approximately Rs 10 billion) concessional loan for a project to improve the delivery of water and sanitation services and promote integrated water resources management.
The agreement was signed by Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini, on behalf of the government of Nepal, and the World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos.
“Our overarching priorities are guided by the objective of achieving sustainable and inclusive growth in alignment with federalism principles enshrined in the Constitution of Nepal,” said Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini.
“The project will support the provision of much-needed water supply and sanitation services to underserved and vulnerable communities, ensure better water sector coordination, and promote higher water quality and service standards.”
The Water Sector Governance and Infrastructure Support Project will be implemented in strategic towns and rural municipalities in Karnali and Sudurpashchim provinces. Both provinces have low access to water supply and sanitation services, a higher incidence of poverty, and are vulnerable to climate change.
“This project will help strengthen the delivery of water and sanitation services at the local level by building the capacity of municipalities, while at the same time addressing critical gaps in water and sanitation infrastructure to support Nepal’s economic progress and a green, resilient, and inclusive development,” said Mr. Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
The project will help the local governments develop viable institutions to deliver water supply and sanitation services sustainably and efficiently, the World Bank said in a press release.
The project will also strengthen the accountability of the sector to customers by building the monitoring and regulatory capacity of provincial and federal government agencies in the sector, states the release.
Colombo: A flight believed to be carrying fleeing Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa landed in Singapore on Thursday.
The arrivals board at the airport showed the plane had arrived. Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives early Wednesday aboard an air force plane amid mass protests demanding he resign over his country’s economic collapse.
A Maldives government official earlier said Rajapaksa had boarded a flight of the Saudi Arabian carrier Saudia from the Maldives’ capital, Male, bound for Singapore. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
London — Rishi Sunak, former chancellor of the UK, won the most votes in the first round of voting to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and UK Prime Minister. Rishi Sunak scored 88 votes, ahead of Penny Mordaunt (67 votes) and Truss Liz (50 votes), reports Reuters. Finance minister Nadhim Zahawi and former cabinet minister Jeremy Hunt were eliminated.
Also in the race is another South Asian -origin member of Parliament – Attorney General Suella Braverman.
Under the election schedule, Boris Johnson’s successor as Conservative leader is meant to be announced on September 5, as the party seeks to rebuild its popular support after he was felled by non-stop scandal.
Since declaring his intention to run for party leadership last week, Rishi Sunak has maintained a steady lead among his party’s parliamentary colleagues. But the Conservative Party membership base which will have the final say seems to be building momentum behind Penny Mordaunt.
At this early stage of the contest, the race seems to be narrowing down into a three-way Sunak, Mordaunt and Liz Truss clash, but the field is still seen as wide open, NDTV reports.
The next round of voting by the 358 Conservative members of Parliament to pick their favourites left on the ballot paper is scheduled for Thursday, when the field of candidates will be narrowed down even further to a shorter list of finalists.
Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives aboard a military plane in the face of a populace uprising against his administration for mismanaging the nation’s economy, prompting Sri Lanka to proclaim a state of emergency today. A curfew in the Western province and the declaration of a state of emergency were announced to the media by the Prime Minister’s office.
According to state Congress President Bhupen Bora, opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha is scheduled to travel here on Wednesday to solicit support from Assam’s opposition parties’ MLAs and MPs for the July 18 elections. Droupadi Murmu, a candidate for the NDA, will travel to Jaipur on Wednesday to solicit support from lawmakers ahead of the presidential election on July 18.
Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country for the Maldives on Wednesday, sources told Reuters, hours before he was due to step down amid widespread protests over his handling of a devastating economic crisis.
Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane, an immigration official told Reuters.
A government source and a person close to Rajapaksa said he was in Male, the capital of the Maldives. The president would most likely proceed to another Asian country from there, the government source said.
The immigration official said authorities could not under law prevent a sitting president from leaving the country.
Rajapaksa was due to step down as president on Wednesday to make way for a unity government, after thousands of protesters stormed his and the prime minister’s official residences on Saturday demanding their ouster.
The president has not been seen in public since Friday.
Sources close to Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament, said he was yet to receive any communication from Rajapaksa. The source close to Rajapaksa said he would send in a letter of resignation later on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has also offered to resign. If he does, that would make the speaker the acting president until a new president is elected, as per the constitution.
Parliament will reconvene on Friday and will vote to elect a new president five days later, Abeywardena has previously said.
The Rajapaksa family, including former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, has dominated the politics of the country of 22 million for years and many Sri Lankans blame them for current problems.
Colombo: Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was blocked from departing Sri Lanka on Monday after refusing to join a public queue at the Bandaranaike International Airport in order to have his passport checked by immigration, a high-ranking military source told CNN.
Kathmandu: Nepal’s annual retail inflation accelerated to 8.56% for the month ending mid-June, central bank data showed on Monday, pushed by a spurt in food and fuel costs amid pressure on the country’s currency.
The latest inflation rate, highest in nearly six years, accelerated from 7.87% the previous month and 4.19% a year earlier, data showed.
Nepal’s central bank faces a tough task of tightening monetary policy enough to cool consumer demand and tame prices, while avoiding major damage to the economy – hit hard during two years of pandemic.
The average monthly year-on-year inflation in the first 11 months of the fiscal year ending mid-June was 6.09% and is expected to stay within the average annual target of 6.5%, bank officials said.
Retail food and beverage prices rose 7.43% year-on-year in the month ending mid-June while non-food and service inflation stood at 9.44%, data showed.
London — On Wednesday 6th July, Virendra Sharma MP joined a delegation of cancer professionals for an event highlighting the significant cancer backlog and record waiting times in cancer care. At the event, organised by the charity Radiotherapy UK and the #CatchUpWithCancer Campaign, a giant map was unveiled outside Parliament demonstrating waiting times in cancer care and the shocking scale of delay across the country.
The Government has set a target of no more than 15% of cancer patients waiting longer than the recommended 62 day wait between the date the hospital receives an urgent referral for suspected cancer and the start of the treatment. However, not one area across the country is meeting that target and, in some areas, cancer patients are waiting more than double the target wait time. In North West London, 31.6% of patients are having to wait longer than 62 days.
Whilst the Government is investing in diagnostic services, there are concerns that there are no plans to increase treatment capacity to deal with the inevitable rise in demand. The radiotherapy community are concerned that without expanding radiotherapy capacity, the cancer backlog and waiting times will continue to grow, and more people will die needlessly. They are calling for urgent Government action and investment to increase radiotherapy treatment services to catch up with the backlog and deliver world-class cancer care in the UK.
Professor Pat Price, leading oncologist, Chair of the charity Radiotherapy UK and co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign said, “Right now, the Government is drawing up its 10-Year Cancer Plan. We are terrified that once again this much needed and overdue plan will be more of the same and offer too little too late. We hope this visual manifestation of the scale of the problem will galvanise Ministers to see that radical action is needed. The cancer backlog numbers are horrific and are set to get even worse. It simply doesn’t need to be this way. In particular, a modest investment in radiotherapy will enable the sector to be a game changer in the battle against the backlog. But instead of that, up until now the sector feels overlooked and burdened with the dead hand of bureaucracy.”
Virendra Sharma MP said, “These waiting times are unacceptable and can lead to potentially devastating consequences for cancer patients. It is clear to me that urgent action is needed to address the backlog in cancer care and bring down waiting times. It is hugely important, therefore, that the Government expands treatment capacity in parallel with work to increase diagnosis capacity. Faster diagnosis will not make a difference to cancer outcomes unless patients can be treated. We must see the benefits of treatments such as radiotherapy fully utilised to get on top of the crisis in cancer care.”
A Swiss tourist, 42, who was visiting South Africa, has been diagnosed with monkeypox, according to the health department of the province of Limpopo.
The traveler, who is on vacation in South Africa, displayed symptoms like a rash, lethargy, and muscle aches. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa determined that his illness was monkeypox.
Three contacts have already been found, and according to a statement from Phophi Ramathuba, a health officer in Limpopo, none of them have shown symptoms as of yet.
