Category: English

KATHMANDU: A total of 463 new coronavirus cases — 358 males and 105 females — have been confirmed in Nepal in the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.

Spokesperson at the Ministry Dr. Jageshwor Gautam said with this, the total number of confirmed cases in the country has reached 12,772.

Nepal has performed 210,876 sample tests through the PCR method so far, he said.

A total of 4,962 sample tests have been performed through the PCR method and 2,732 samples test performed though the RDT method in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

Likewise, 179 persons were discharged from the hospital after being recovered from the pandemic virus in the past 24 hours. With this, the number of recovered people has reached 3,013.

Currently, 9,731 people are in isolation and 61,731 in quarantines across the country.

COVID-19 has spread to all 77 districts of Nepal.

New Delhi- In recent days, images showing Google Maps having revised its maps in removing the Line of Control from the geography of Jammu and Kashmir have been going viral on social media. Some internet users in India come to terms with a pleasant development, that the Line of Control (LoC) has been removed from the map. The whole state of Jammu and Kashmir (including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) is appearing as a single unit on the map, without any mention of the LoC.

The revised map, which is in consonance with the stated position of India (that the entire Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India), however, doesn’t show up when one looks at it from a location outside India.

Fact-checking website Factly, reporting on the development, pointed out that the maps appearing on Google are customised as per different geographical locations. “Disputed boundaries are displayed as a dashed gray line. The places involved don’t agree on a boundary,” Factly cited a criterion on the official page of Google Maps.

To reinforce its claim, Factly published a Google Map result from a user based in the US, which very much showed the LoC as part of India’s geography.

Further, it has been reported that the revised map policy of the Silicon-headquartered company had come into effect back in February, having been reported by Washington Post back then. “In countries where we have local versions of Google Maps, we follow local legislation when displaying names and borders,” a Google executive had been quoted as saying by The Post in February.

Sher Bahadur Singh
KTM-Buses after buses are being send from here to bring home people stranded in Kathmandu after the extension of the lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

However, no decision has been made so far to bring home the Nepalis stranded in various border towns in India due to the same for long.
It is said the Federal Parliament lawmakers, former ministers and student organisation leaders from Kanchanpur, Kailali and other districts of the Sudur Paschim state, who are based in the central capital, Kathmandu, are arranging for sending the people in the central capital home.

They have been sending out messages through social media collecting names of people who wanted to be rescued and go home after the extension of the lockdown. Looking at the messages related to this doing round in the social media, it gives the glimpse of canvassing during election time.

Although the MPs, politicians and student leaders from the State and based in the central capital are more than eager in the task of rescuing the lockdown-stranded people in Kathmandu to their homes, they are not as enthusiastic in rescuing the hundreds of Nepalis stranded in the Indian towns across the border who have now spend more than a month at quarantines in schools and other public buildings there.

Not even the State government, the local governments and the district administrations have made earnest efforts for rescuing the Nepalis stranded in border towns of India. Most of these people are migrant workers from Nepal.

The local administration in Kanchanpur district has notified the local levels in the district to keep people coming in the district from other places in quarantine for 14 days. But this notification is not effectively implemented giving rise to concern of spread of coronavirus infection.

“Although arrangements have been made for keeping in quarantine the people entering the district from India, nobody seems to be serious regarding bringing the Nepali citizens home,” a chief officer of security body here said. The official said no people’s representative has spoken of bringing home the stranded Nepali workers in India.

It may be recalled here that the Supreme Court has also ordered the government to bring home the Nepalis kept in quarantine at the Indian border towns, and if not to make arrangements for providing them food and accommodation there.

Meanwhile, the Chief District Officer of Kanchanpur district has said the district administration has not issued permit to bring people from any place including from Kathmandu.

KTM- Ilam district In-charge and two other cadres of Netra Bikram Chand-led group have been arrested with a huge cache of explosives at Mai municipality in Ilam.

A joint team of Nepal Police and Armed Police Force arrested them on Monday night.

Ilam district In-Charge Pushpa Koirala of Sankhuwasabha, and leaders—Pasang Sherpa, 24, of Taplejung district and Pasang Tamang, 19, of Udayapur district were arrested with 19 pieces of detonator, a pressure cooker bomb, pipe filled with explosives, one grenade, meter used in bomb explosion, different improvised explosive device (IED), four remote knife and documents, said Superintendent of Police (SP) of Ilam district police, Hira Bahadur Pandey.

The arrestees have been brought to District Police Office, Ilam.RSS

KTM- Medicines worth one billion 695 million 448 thousand rupees and raw materials for medicine worth 341.9 million has been imported so far during the lockdown.

Similarly, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies said that 123 thousand 627 metric tonnes food grains, 35 thousand 131 metric tonnes lentils, 52 thousand 479 metric tonnes vegetables, 16 thousand 862 metric tonnes fruits and 11 thousand 59 metric tonnes dairy products have been imported in the 40 days lockdown period.

According to the Ministry, the import of food materials has increased after the announcement of the lockdown. It stated that the import of food grains has increased by 136 per cent and that of lentils and beans by 85 per cent in the fifth week of the lockdown compared to the first week.

Similarly, the import of vegetables and fruits has increased by 39 per cent and 316 per cent respectively during the same period.

KTM- The Home Ministry has instructed its subordinate bodies to ensure effective implementation of lockdown against the global pandemic of coronavirus. Issuing a circular to all district administration offices today, the Ministry has asked them to ban the movement of vehicles sans earlier permission.

Though the lockdown rules for movement of vehicles were unofficially relaxed slightly during the evening time to rescue destitute workers and those left stranded in the midway, now most of them have been rescued, the Home Ministry said.

According to the Ministry, it has sought no green signals to those vehicles without earlier permission, bearing in mind the increased risk of COVID-19 infection while coming into contact with crowds and travelling through vehicles en masse. The Cabinet meeting on Sunday decided to extend lockdown till May 7.

So far 52 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the country.

Sher Bahadur Singh
KTM-Buses after buses are being send from here to bring home people stranded in Kathmandu after the extension of the lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

However, no decision has been made so far to bring home the Nepalis stranded in various border towns in India due to the same for long.
It is said the Federal Parliament lawmakers, former ministers and student organisation leaders from Kanchanpur, Kailali and other districts of the Sudur Paschim state, who are based in the central capital, Kathmandu, are arranging for sending the people in the central capital home.

They have been sending out messages through social media collecting names of people who wanted to be rescued and go home after the extension of the lockdown. Looking at the messages related to this doing round in the social media, it gives the glimpse of canvassing during election time.

Although the MPs, politicians and student leaders from the State and based in the central capital are more than eager in the task of rescuing the lockdown-stranded people in Kathmandu to their homes, they are not as enthusiastic in rescuing the hundreds of Nepalis stranded in the Indian towns across the border who have now spend more than a month at quarantines in schools and other public buildings there.

Not even the State government, the local governments and the district administrations have made earnest efforts for rescuing the Nepalis stranded in border towns of India. Most of these people are migrant workers from Nepal.

The local administration in Kanchanpur district has notified the local levels in the district to keep people coming in the district from other places in quarantine for 14 days. But this notification is not effectively implemented giving rise to concern of spread of coronavirus infection.

“Although arrangements have been made for keeping in quarantine the people entering the district from India, nobody seems to be serious regarding bringing the Nepali citizens home,” a chief officer of security body here said. The official said no people’s representative has spoken of bringing home the stranded Nepali workers in India.

It may be recalled here that the Supreme Court has also ordered the government to bring home the Nepalis kept in quarantine at the Indian border towns, and if not to make arrangements for providing them food and accommodation there.

Meanwhile, the Chief District Officer of Kanchanpur district has said the district administration has not issued permit to bring people from any place including from Kathmandu.