Coronavirus worst crisis since WWII, UN boss says as deaths surge

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic continued to worsen Wednesday despite unprecedented lockdowns, as the head of the United Nations sounded the alarm on what he said was humanity’s worst crisis since World War II.

The warning came as Donald Trump told Americans to brace for a “very painful” few weeks after the United States registered its deadliest 24 hours of the crisis.

The number of deaths on Wednesday topped 4,000, twice the 2,010 recorded late Saturday, Johns Hopkins data showed.

Around half of the planet’s population is under some form of lockdown as governments struggle to halt the spread of a disease that has now infected more than 840,000 people.

Well over 40,000 are known to have died, half of them in Italy and Spain, but the death toll continues to rise with new records being logged daily in the US.

“This is going to be a very painful — a very, very painful — two weeks,” the president said at the White House as he described the pandemic as “a plague.”

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead.”

America’s outbreak has mushroomed rapidly. There are now around 189,000 known cases — a figure that has doubled in just five days.

On Tuesday, a record 865 people died, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Members of Trump’s coronavirus task force said the country should be ready for between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the coming months.

“As sobering a number as that is, we should be prepared for it,” Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.

America’s under-pressure health system is being supplemented by field hospitals sprouting up all over New York, including a tented camp in Central Park, a hospital ship and converted convention centres.

But even with the extended capacity, doctors say they are still having to make painful choices.

“If you get a surge of patients coming in, and you only have a limited number of ventilators, you can’t necessarily ventilate patients,” Shamit Patel of the Beth Israel hospital said. “And then you have to start picking and choosing.”

DEEP RECESSION FEARED

The extraordinary economic and political upheaval spurred by the virus presents a real danger to the relative peace the world has seen over the last few decades, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday.

The “disease… represents a threat to everybody in the world and… an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past.”

“The combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict are things that make us believe that this is the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War,” he said.

In virtual talks Tuesday, finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 major economies pledged to address the debt burden of low-income countries and deliver aid to emerging markets.

Last week G20 leaders said they were injecting $5 trillion into the global economy to head off a feared deep recession.

In the European Union, however, battle lines have been drawn over the terms of a rescue plan.

Worst-hit Italy and Spain are leading a push for a shared debt instrument — dubbed “coronabonds.”

But talk of shared debt is a red line for Germany and other northern countries, threatening to divide the bloc.

Deaths shot up again across Europe. While there are hopeful signs that the spread of infections is slowing in hardest-hit Italy and Spain, more than 800 new deaths were reported on Tuesday.

France recorded a one-day record of 499 dead while Britain reported 381 coronavirus deaths, including that of a previously healthy 13-year-old.

That came after a 12-year-old Belgian girl succumbed to an illness that is serious chiefly for older, frailer people with pre-existing health conditions.

‘WE NEED HELP NOW’

While many companies and schools around the globe have shifted to teleworking and teaching over video platforms, huge swathes of the world’s workforce cannot perform their jobs online and are now lacking pay and face a deeply uncertain future.

The economic pain of lockdowns is especially acute in the developing world.

In Tunisia several hundred protested a week-old lockdown that has disproportionately impacted the poor.

“Nevermind coronavirus, we’re going to die anyway! Let us work!” shouted one protester in the demonstration on the outskirts of the capital Tunis.

Africa’s biggest city Lagos was set for its second full day of lockdown on Wednesday — but with some of the world’s biggest slums, home to millions who live hand-to-mouth, containment will be difficult.

“There is no money for the citizens,” said engineer Ogun Nubi Victor, 60.

“People are just sitting at home, with nothing to eat.”

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No let-up in coronavirus deaths in Italy, new cases steady

ROME: The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has climbed by 837 to 12,428, the Civil Protection Agency said on Tuesday, with the daily tally rising, albeit slightly, for a second day running.

The number of new cases was broadly steady, growing by 4,053 against 4,050 on Monday, and bringing total infections since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 to 105,792.

Some 5,217 new cases were registered on Sunday and 5,974 on Saturday, suggesting the growth curve of new infections is flattening.

The daily tally of deaths in Lombardy, the worst-affected region, declined sharply, and new infections were also down for at least the third day running, suggesting the situation is improving there faster than elsewhere in the country.

In neighbouring Piedmont, on the other hand, the daily death toll of 105 was up sharply from the day before.

Of those originally infected nationwide, 15,729 had fully recovered on Tuesday, compared to 14,620 the day before. There were 4,023 people in intensive care, up from a previous 3,981.

Italy has registered more deaths than anywhere else in the world and accounts for around 30% of all global fatalities from the virus.

Italy‘s largest daily toll from the five-week-old epidemic was registered on Friday, when 919 people died. There were 889 deaths on Saturday, 756 on Sunday and 812 on Monday.

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Help heads to NYC as experts predict over 100,000 US deaths

NEW YORK: With refrigerated morgue trucks parked on New York City’s streets to collect the surging number of dead, public health officials projected Tuesday that the coronavirus could ultimately kill more than 100,000 people across the US Some states that have become hot spots warn they’re running low on ventilators, while two cruise ships pleaded for Florida to allow them to dock to carry off the sick and dead.

The number of U.S. deaths could range from 100,000 to 240,000 even if Americans continue to stay home and limit contact with others, experts predicted at a media briefing with President Donald Trump. But they said they hope the figure won’t soar that high if everyone does their part to prevent the virus from spreading.

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” said Trump, who has extended social distancing guidelines to April 30. “We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks.”

Elsewhere around the world, hard-hit Italy reported that the infection rate appears to be leveling off and new cases could start declining, but that the crisis is far from over. Spain struggled to fend off the collapse of its hospital system. Vladimir Putin’s Russia moved to crack down on quarantine violations and “fake news” about the outbreak. And China edged closer to normal as stores in the epicenter city of Wuhan began reopening.

Worldwide, nearly 860,000 people have been infected and over 42,000 have died, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Italy and Spain accounted for half the deaths, while the U.S. had over 185,000 infections and about 3,900 dead. That’s above the official toll of about 3,300 in China, where the virus began.

New York was the nation’s deadliest hot spot, with about 1,550 deaths statewide, most of them in New York City, which braced for things to get much worse in the coming weeks.

At Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, critically ill COVID-19 patients are filling intensive care units, surgical floors and operating rooms and waiting in the emergency room for beds to become available, said Dr. Eric Wei of the city’s hospital agency.

“I’ve practiced emergency medicine for a long time, and I’m seeing things that I never could have imagined in terms of the things this virus can do to all ages, including people who were previously healthy,” he said.

A 1,000-bed emergency hospital set up at the mammoth Javits Convention Center began taking non-coronavirus patients to help relieve the city’s overwhelmed health system. A Navy hospital ship with 1,000 beds was expected to accept patients soon.

The indoor tennis center that is the site of the U.S. Open tournament is being turned into a hospital as well.

The city worked to bring in 250 out-of-town ambulances and 500 paramedics to deal with a crush of emergency calls. The fire commissioner said ambulances are responding to double their normal daily total of 3,000 calls to 911.

New York authorities also sought more volunteer health care professionals and hoped to have them on board by Thursday. Nearly 80,000 former nurses, doctors and others are said to be stepping forward.

Around the city, workers in protective gear have been seen putting bodies of victims into refrigerated trailers. At some hospitals, like Lenox Hill in Manhattan, the trucks are parked on the streets, along sidewalks and in front of apartments. Cars and buses passed by as corpses were loaded by forklift at Brooklyn Hospital Center. People captured some of the scenes by cellphone.

Meanwhile, two ships carrying passengers and crew from an ill-fated South American cruise are urging Florida officials to let them dock. Dozens aboard have reported flu-like symptoms, and four people have died. Two of the deaths have been blamed on COVID-19, and nine people have tested positive.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida’s health care resources are already stretched too thin. Trump said he would speak with DeSantis and “do what’s right.”

Figures on deaths and infections around the world are supplied by government health authorities and compiled by Johns Hopkins.

But the numbers are regarded with skepticism by public health experts because of different counting practices, a lack of testing in places, the numerous mild cases that have been missed, and perhaps government efforts to downplay the severity of the crisis.

For example, in Italy, where the death toll was put at about 12,400, the country’s emergency coordinator, Domenico Arcuri, acknowledged that officials don’t have a handle on how many people are dying at home or in nursing homes.

Still, there was a glimmer of hope there: Dr. Silvio Brusaferro, head of Italy’s institutes of health, said that three weeks into a nationwide lockdown, the hardest-hit country in Europe is seeing the rate of new infections level off.

“The curve suggests we are at the plateau,” he said. But “arriving at the plateau doesn’t mean we have conquered the peak and we’re done. It means now we should start to see the decline if we continue to place maximum attention on what we do every day.”

With the country’s health care system buckling under the pressure, a field hospital, built in just 10 days, was unveiled at the Milan fairgrounds.

“We made a promise and we kept it,” said the head of the project, former civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso, who ended up catching the virus while on the job and had to work from his hospital bed.

In Russia, lawmakers approved harsher punishments, including prison sentences of several years, for violating quarantine rules and spreading misinformation. The chief doctor at Moscow’s top hospital for coronavirus patients said he tested positive, a week after shaking hands with Putin.

Spain reported more than 840 new deaths, pushing the toll above 8,000 and forcing Madrid to open a second temporary morgue after an ice rink pressed into service last week became overwhelmed.

Dozens of hotels across Spain have been turned into recovery rooms, and authorities are building field hospitals in sports centers, libraries and exhibition halls.

Israel’s Defense Ministry said it has converted a missile-production facility into an assembly line for ventilators.

The hot spots of Louisiana and Michigan were running out of ventilators, despite promises by the White House of more equipment.

Louisiana’s governor said the hard-hit New Orleans region is on track to run out of breathing machines by the weekend and hospital beds a week later. The Trump administration has committed to sending 150 ventilators from the national stockpile, but the state hasn’t received an arrival date. Michigan said it needs 5,000 to 10,000 more.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia.

Among the few positive signs: In Britain, where the number of dead reached nearly 1,800, the medical director of the National Health Service’s operations in England said there is evidence that social distancing is working. And China reported just one new death from the coronavirus and 48 new cases, all of them from overseas.

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During lockdown, these two Indians cycled to Gaur from Kathmandu

Raj Kishore Sah and Sanjaya Sah travelled to Gaur from Kathmandu on their bicycles during the lockdown in March 2020.

Gaur, April 1

Two Indian men travelled to Gaur of Rautahat district from Kathmandu, riding on bicycles, during the lockdown imposed to control the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Raj Kishore Sah and Sanjaya Sah, permanent residents of Betauna in Motihari district in Bihar of India, left Kathmandu in the wee hours of Sunday and reached Gaur, a two in Rautahat bordering Sitamarhi of Bihar, on Tuesday evening, crossing around 200 kilometres.

They used to work as fruit vendors in Kathmandu. “We used to work daily to earn a living. But we could not sell fruits after the lockdown, and we ran out of money. The shopkeeper did not give us goods on credit, so we left,” Raj Kishore says.

Police detained them for defying the lockdown order in Pathalaiya of Bara district. After they told their stories to the law enforcement personnel, they took them to Chapur of Rautahat on a truck, after which they rode the cycles again.

Meanwhile, after the police in Gaur said they could not cross the border, the duo are sad now.

400 Nepali migrants stuck on Sunauli border

Bhairahawa, March 31

More than 400 Nepali migrant workers have been stranded at the Nepal-India border in Rupandehi district for the last four days after the government closed border points with India to halt the spread of coronavirus in Nepal.

After India imposed a 21-day lockdown, most migrant workers, including students, visitors and pilgrims, among others, walked for four to five days from various parts of India to reach the border point before being stopped by security personnel over fear of the contagion spreading in the country.

According to Belhiya Area Police Office In-charge Inspector Ishowari Adhikari, those returning from India will not be allowed to enter Nepal unless directed by higher authorities.

“We will turn them away to India. We will not let them in at any cost. We have adequate force and are capable of stopping them at the border point,” Inspector Adhikari added.

Rupandehi’s Chief District Officer Maha Dev Panta did not respond to phone calls despite repeated attempts.

Likewise, Superintendent of Police Hem Bahadur Thapa said, “We cannot do anything unless the higher authority directs us to act on the issue.”

Sunauli Nagarpanchyat Chairman Sudhir Tripathi arranged food for at least 370 stranded Nepalis at three different locations in the area. “All of them went through preliminary health screening, Tripathi added.

“Its an irony that the authorities concerned are turning their backs in these difficult times.

We urge the authorities to rescue stranded people at the border point and place them in quarantine or isolation,” said Dr Santa Kumar Sharma, chair of the Federation of Nepal-India Border Agent Association.

There seems to be lack of preparedness in setting up quarantines at Belhiya near the border point from any level of the government, including Siddharthanagar Municipality.

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Virus disrupts pregnancy plans, raises anxiety and questions

Some pregnant women fear giving birth with no loved ones by their side. Others worry about getting sick with COVID-19 and not being able to hold their newborns. The coronavirus pandemic has injected anxiety and uncertainty to an already stressful time and while science about risks is mostly reassuring, doctors want clearer answers too.

“There is very limited information available,” said Dr. Leana Wen, a George Washington University public health specialist. She wants answers as a physician and as a patient — Wen is pregnant and due to give birth to her second child any day.

Her greatest fear is developing a COVID-19 infection or symptoms that would force her to be separated from her newborn for days or weeks.

“I would only be able to see my baby through a glass window,” said Wen, former Baltimore health commissioner. “That’s the one that gives me nightmares.”

To help provide answers, the University of California, San Francisco last week started the first U.S. registry of COVID-19 infected or exposed pregnant women. At least 60 women have enrolled so far.

Not all have confirmed cases. Women who turn out not to be infected will remain in the registry as a comparison group.

The more women in the registry “the more quickly we can provide the answers,” said Dr. Vanessa Jacoby, who heads the effort.

The big questions include: Are pregnant women more likely than others to become infected and to develop complications? Preliminary evidence suggests no.

There is also no definitive evidence that the virus can be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy, although three small and preliminary studies from China published last week raised that possibility. One paper in JAMA Pediatrics included 33 infants born to infected women; only three babies tested positive, two days after birth, and developed symptoms including pneumonia. All three recovered.

It’s likely their mothers transmitted the disease during or after birth, not during pregnancy, said Dr. David Kimberlin, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“The numbers are too small to make any conclusions” about how often infants become infected or how sick they become, Kimberlin said.

Guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine says pregnant women with COVID-19 should be considered high-risk patients. That’s because pregnant women who develop flu or other respiratory infections caused by related viruses face increased risks for complications from those illnesses, including premature births and certain birth defects. There a few reports of babies born prematurely but there is no evidence that the coronavirus was the cause.

To limit the risk of infection, some doctors are doing prenatal checkups by phone or video conference. Some are implementing or considering limits on visitors in the delivery room. At some New York City hospitals, that meant no spouses or partners either, until the state said one person was allowed.

Federal recommendations say hospitals should consider separating infected mothers from newborns until the mother tests negative for the virus, but that is not a mandate, said Dr. Brenna Hughes, a Duke University specialist who helped write the obstetric groups’ guidance.

Some pregnant women are seeking to have labor induced early to avoid hospitals during a possible surge of COVID-19 cases, and others are suddenly deciding to give birth at home. Mainstream medical groups advise against both.

“We believe that planned hospital birth is the safest option for pregnant women,” Hughes said.

She added that for women who are planning to become pregnant, there’s no specific advice against it during the pandemic.

Some hospitals are seeing pregnant women from out-of-state virus hotspots, who are seeking to give birth in a safer environment. These include Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, 35 miles from New York City, and Tufts Medical Center, 200 miles away, in Boston.

Tufts is not accepting any routine OB/GYN transfers from any COVID-19 surge areas that advise against travel, said spokesman Jeremy Lechan. “If a pregnant patient from one of these areas shows up in the clinic, they will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days before receiving care.” Women in labor will accepted but without anyone else.

Maureen Nicol, a single Columbia University doctoral student in early childhood education, will be giving birth to her first child out of state, not as planned. She expected to give birth in April at a Manhattan hospital with the assistance of a doula. But during a visit in March to her family’s Maryland home, New York became the nation’s coronavirus epicenter. She canceled plans to return.

Now she’s racing to find a new doctor and hospital, buy new baby supplies, and considering the possibility of giving birth with her doula on the phone.

“I’m just wishing for a healthy and safe delivery,” Nicol said. “And feeling I have some control in a time and situation where I feel like no one feels like they have control.”

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Nepali Embassy in London to open through week

File: Nepal’s Embassy in London

Kathmandu, April 1

The Nepali Embassy in London, the capital city of the United Kingdom, will stay open every day of the week at a time when most offices in Britain are closed due to the accelerating coronavirus pandemic.

The embassy says it is opening throughout the week to hear the problems faced by the Nepalis in the UK and in Malta due to the coronavirus outbreak, and to take necessary steps. Before this, the embassy was open from Monday to Friday only.

Deputy chief of mission at the embassy, Sarad Raj Aran, says the living quarters of most of the embassy staff are in the same building within the embassy compound and they have been working beside the five days anyway.

He adds that the embassy has issued a notice informing of the extension of the office hours out of realisation that it should be more responsible during the time of the pandemic. The embassy has urged the Nepali students at various universities in Britain to stay safe and observe calm and discipline at such time and to contact the embassy in case of emergencies, stating that some of the students are facing problems including managing food, among others.

RSS

Two killed, 30 injured in jeep plunge

Ramechhap, March 31

At least two persons died and 30 were injured after a jeep met with an accident at Rakathum of Khandadevi Rural Municipality in Ramechhap this morning.

The deceased have been identified as Sangita Pahari, 25 and Gopilal Pahari, 40 of Doramba Rural Municipality.

Police said the jeep, which was heading towards Tokarpur of Ramechhap from Kathmandu, below the road.

Chief District Officer Rudra Devi Sharma said that 30 people who were travelling in the jeep were injured in the accident. Chief of Ramechhap District Police Office Basanta Pathak said the jeep might have met with the accident due to overload of passengers.

He said police rescued the injured and sent the seriously injured to Dhulikhel Hospital for treatment.

Police said that three who sustained minor injury were being treated at the local health facility. The jeep driver, who sustained minor injury was taken under control, said police.

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No new COVID-19 case reported: Health ministry

KATHMANDU, MARCH 31

A total of 87 suspected COVID-19 patients are being kept in the isolation wards of various hospitals across the country.

According to the health ministry, there are 10 patients in the isolation ward of Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku, and 77 others in hospitals of different provinces.

Addressing mediapersons Dr Bikash Devkota, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population said contact tracing of those two infected with COV- ID-19 has been completed.

“Contact tracing of other two COVID-19 patients is on. We have completed 80 per cent of contract tracing of those two infected patients,” he said.

Meanwhile, samples of the patients, who died in Patan and Bir Hospital yesterday tested negative for COVID-19, according to the health ministry. The ministry also said no new cases of coronavirus were reported from across the country today.

Dr Devkota also said private hospitals should take patients in. “Anyone suffering from fever doesn’t mean s/he has coronavirus infection. Fever is also a symptom of other diseases. Private hospitals should treat patients with all kinds of symptoms,” said Dr Devkota.

The ministry also said farmers could work in their fields by maintaining social distance.

“People can do any type of work.

But, they must maintain proper distance,” said Consultant for the Health Ministry Dr Khem Bahadur Karki during media briefing.

The ministry has also advised health workers to use personal protective equipment. Each province has around 1,300 to 2,500 personal protective equipment, according to the ministry.

COVID-19 call centres have responded to a total of 1,806 calls in the last 24 hours.

Patan Hospital has been asked to share information, report and communicate with health experts from neighbouring countries on COVID-19.

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These pics show you how lockdown has left monkeys, dogs and pigeons starving in Kathmandu

There are concerns galore about the ongoing lockdown’s impacts on the public’s daily life. Online news portals and news bulletins of radio and TV stations in Kathmandu have published and broadcast dozens of stories about cooking gas shortage and the government response to the crisis.

But, it seems only a few, if any, people are concerned about what stray animals in Kathmandu Valley eat during such hard times.

Around 26,000 dogs are said to be living on the streets of Kathmandu, according to the Federation of Animal Welfare Nepal. The number of monkeys in the valley is not known, but there are hundreds of monkeys in Pashupati and Swayambhu areas of Kathmandu. There are some cows also.

Previously, the monkeys of Pashupati and Swayambhu areas used to find hundreds of devotees throwing various foodstuffs to them every day. So were the pigeons in Bouddhanath, Basantapur Durbar Square and other places. There used to be sufficient food for the stray dogs also.

However, with the lockdown enforced, human beings are scarce on the road and around the temples since the past week. Subsequently, the monkeys, dogs, and pigeons are starving.

For many people in Nepal, animal welfare is an elitist agenda as there are thousands of people struggling ‘like animals’ for mere hand-to-mouth existence. They think the agenda just diverts the attention, as well as support, of Samaritans and other stakeholders from people to animals.

However, it is apparent that animals should also receive equal attention, support, and care because they are also parts of the society and they have human sympathies.

Realising this, a few benevolent human hearts have reached out to the animals and birds with the food. But that is apparently too little and too late.

US death toll spirals amid rush to build field hospitals, find supplies

• US death toll exceeds that of September 11, 2001, attacks
• Los Angeles convention center to become field hospital

NEW YORK/ LOS ANGELES: The US government raced on Tuesday to build hundreds of makeshift hospitals near major cities as healthcare systems were pushed to capacity, and sometimes beyond, by the coronavirus pandemic.

Even as millions of Americans hunkered down in their homes under strict “stay-at-home” orders, the death toll, as tallied by Reuters, shot up by more than 850 on Tuesday, by far the most for a single day.

Nearly half of the new fatalities were in New York state, the epicenter of the pandemic despite closed businesses and deserted streets. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded for immediate reinforcements in the country’s biggest city from the Trump administration.

“This is the point at which we must be prepared for next week, when we expect a huge increase in the number of cases. What I asked very clearly, last week, was for military medical personnel to be deployed here,” de Blasio said at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, where a field hospital was being hastily built.

The sports complex is home to the US Open Tennis Championship, set to begin on Aug. 24. It remains on the calendar despite reports that Wimbledon, the sport’s most prestigious event, is unlikely to go forward as scheduled in June. The U.S. Open and Wimbledon are two of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.

De Blasio, a Democrat who last year sought his party’s presidential nomination, said he had asked the White House for an additional 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists and 150 doctors by Sunday.

“DEBILITATING AND EXHAUSTING”

Nearly 3,900 people have already died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, in the United States, more than the 2,977 who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The total confirmed U.S. cases rose to 187,000.

White House medical experts say 100,000 to 240,000 people could ultimately perish from the respiratory disease in the United States, despite unprecedented orders by state and local governments largely confining Americans to their homes.

In addition to the rules issued by at least 30 states, President Donald Trump, reversing course, said this week that most businesses and schools should remain shut at least through the end of April. Trump, speaking at the White House on Tuesday, said the next two weeks would be “very, very painful” for the country.

“We want Americans to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We’re going to through a very tough two weeks and then, hopefully, as the experts are predicting … you’re going to be seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel,” the president said.

The US Army Corps of Engineers sought hotels, dormitories, convention centers and large open spaces to build as many as 341 temporary hospitals, Lieutenant General Todd Semonite told the ABC News “Good Morning America” program. The corps has already converted New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center into a 1,000-bed hospital.

In Los Angeles, the city’s massive convention center was being converted to a federal medical station by the National Guard, Mayor Gil Garcetti said on Twitter. In California, the most populous U.S. state, the number of coronavirus patients has surged over the past few days, with more than 7,600 cases confirmed as of Tuesday and 150 deaths.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said on Tuesday the US Strategic National Stockpile of medical supplies was now empty and the state was “on its own” trying to obtain medical equipment to fight the pandemic.

A Dutch cruise ship with confirmed cases of the virus and four fatalities on board sought permission to dock in Florida, even as Governor Ron DeSantis said the state could not afford to take on any additional patients.

The pandemic has taken a toll on doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, who are overworked and lack the medical devices and protective gear needed.

“The duration itself is debilitating and exhausting and depressing,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a news conference.

The governor said his brother, 49-year-old CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, had tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday and would host his nightly show from his basement to avoid infecting family members or others.

US coronavirus-related deaths still trail those of Italy and Spain, which have more than 11,000 and 8,000 reported fatalities, respectively. China, where the outbreak is believed to have originated, has reported 3,305.

Worldwide, there are now more than 800,000 cases of the highly contagious illness caused by the virus and more than 40,000 deaths reported.

An intensive-care-unit nurse at a major hospital in Manhattan said he had been shocked by the deteriorating condition of young patients with little or no underlying health issues.

“A 28-year-old, healthy fellow ICU nurse is currently so sick that he has difficulty walking up a single flight of stairs without gasping for breath,” said the nurse, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

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Local levels collecting details of returnees

Dhading, March 31

Local governments in Dhading have intensified their campaign to collect the details of persons who have returned home from abroad in the past couple of weeks.

According to Netrawati Dawajong Rural Municipality Chairperson Durga Kumar Shakya, the campaign was meant to prevent possible transmission of coronavirus in the community from the returnees.

“As even a small negligence on our part could put our entire family and community in harm’s way, we have reached out to one and all who came home from India and other countries from the third week of March and urged them to stay in mandatory quarantine as precaution against coronavirus,” said Shakya.

From Netrawati Dawajong itself, a youth has been placed in isolation at Teku, Kathmandu after he was confirmed to be carrying the virus, seven others are in a quarantine facility in the district headquarters Dhadingbesi. Yet, another 11 persons are in quarantine in the village itself.

So far, six of the 13 local levels in the district have made public the data of returnees, according to which, 74 persons have returned from abroad in Netrawati Dawajong, 48 in Tripurasundari, 32 in Benighat Rorang and 28 in Gangajamuna rural municipalities since mid-March.

The number of people returning home during that time in Dhunibesi Municipality and Thakre Rural Municipality stood at 18 and 14 respectively.

Besides the collection of the details, the local representatives’ teams, accompanied by health workers, are also examining returnees’ health and urging them to stay in quarantine, either at home or at the government-built facilities.

“Perhaps, learning about the direction of the home ministry, which has asked all who have returned home from March 14 onwards to get their health checked up and to remain in mandatory 14-day quarantine, the returnees have now started coming into contact on their own,” said Tripurasundari Rural Municipality Chair Shambhu Kumar Thapa.

“As for those who didn’t approach us, we reached out to them in person, counselled them and convinced them to stay at home or in government-built quarantine facilities for 14 days,” Thapa said.

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13-year-old shot dead; Kenyan police enforcing curfew blamed

NAIROBI, KENYA: The bullet struck the 13-year-old as he stood on the balcony of his family’s home with his siblings. Below, police officers moved through the crowded neighbourhood, enforcing Kenya’s new coronavirus curfew.

Go upstairs, the children’s mother had shouted minutes earlier, as gunfire echoed in the streets. “We thought it was safer,” the boy’s 19-year-old sister, Aisha Hussein, told The Associated Press.

But on the balcony the children noticed a targeting light, heard another gunshot and scattered. All but 13-year-old Yasin Hussein Moyo, who “just stood there, stunned,” his sister said.

As he bled from the abdomen and their mother rushed up, the boy said, “Look mum, it hit me.”

His family mourned him Tuesday on the outskirts of Nairobi, washing his small body according to Muslim rite, carrying him in a crowd through the street to the cemetery and burying him in the dirt with their bare hands.

The killing might be the latest example of police abuse of coronavirus restrictions seen in several African nations in the past week.

Kenya’s police inspector general has ordered an investigation into the boy’s death by “stray bullet,” including a forensic analysis of all firearms held by officers at the scene.

“Our sincere condolences to the family,” the police tweet said.

The family was stunned. Women wept in a courtyard at the cemetery, and leaned in for a final goodbye before the boy’s body was wrapped completely in white cloth.

The father, Hussein Moyo, was furious.

“They come in screaming and beating us like cows, and we are law-abiding citizens,” he said. His son died a few hours after midnight.

Police shot him, a neighbor in the adjacent apartment block said.

“I could see police aiming at the building,” Hadijah Mamo said. She heard gunfire and saw tear gas, and minutes later “I heard people screaming that the boy had been shot.”

Kenya on Friday began imposing a 7 pm to 6 am curfew, and violence quickly followed.

Police fired tear gas at a crowd of hundreds of commuters who tried to reach a ferry in the port city of Mombasa before the first night of curfew began. Elsewhere, officers were captured in mobile phone footage whacking people with batons.

Another death has been blamed on police enforcement of the curfew. A motorcycle taxi driver, Hamisi Juma Mbega, died from his injuries after being beaten. He had breached the curfew by taking a pregnant woman to a hospital in Mombasa, according to a post-mortem report obtained by the AP.

And the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, a civilian body established by parliament, said it is looking into another death blamed on police brutality, that of a bicycle taxi driver in Homa Bay county.

Human rights groups, the Catholic church and even Kenya’s health ministry have condemned the actions of a police force that has long been accused of abuses.

“People must be treated humanely,” the cabinet secretary for health, Mutahi Kagwe, said after Friday night’s events.

Kenya now has 59 coronavirus cases, including one death from the disease.

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Your phone and laptop can work as library for your kids during lockdown

Reading habits in the 21^st century have changed significantly with an exponential use of the internet. People are more dependent on hypertexts and hypermedia. Such dependency has been more visible on children who are using their (parents’) smartphones and laptops as sources of information. However, how the children grasp knowledge and the sources of information is still a critical issue as children are more susceptible to digital addiction with explicit usage of their gadgets.

Nepal is currently on lockdown, during which children are prone to fall more into such digital addiction. So it might be necessary for parents to monitor their children’s usage of the internet. Nonetheless, parents can surely guide their children to use the internet productively. And, a few good habits they can bestow upon their children are reading books and learning reading skills on the internet.

There are multiple national and international websites that have been providing reading materials for free or at a minimum charge. A few websites which would charge the users otherwise have announced free access to their contents since the novel coronavirus outbreak haunted the world. The contents available are ebooks, multimedia, audiobooks and so on.

Here, we have for you a list of such platforms for you to make your children engaged in productivity and developing their cognition during the lockdown.

OLE Nepal’s E-Pustakalaya

A project since 2008, E-Pustakalaya is an education-focused freely accessible digital library containing around 7,000 full-text documents, books, videos, audios and other forms of multimedia in various native languages as well as in English. With a user-friendly layout, the digital library is easy to browse.

Moreover, one of its webpage, EGR, is focused on the learning of primary level children through video and texts, while the other webpage, Bal Paathmala contains children’s books at three levels. Furthermore, its E-Paath platform provides digital learning materials according to the grades of the children and one can choose through multiple choices of subjects. The only drawback of E-Pustakalaya is that you cannot switch from one of the webpages mentioned above to another.

The E-Pustakalaya and E-Paath are products of Open Learning Exchange, an NGO that once adopted the government’s ambitious project One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) for its successful implementation.

Ministry of Education’s CDC Library

The contents of the Curriculum Development Centre’s library are more curriculum-focused and they provide textbooks, curricula, teachers’ guides, children’s resources and journals in multiple languages. Moreover, they contain videos of online classes of various subjects of multiple grades.

But the major problem with the website is its design. The website is not designed in a user-friendly manner as these contents need to be browsed through multiple clicks and some of the contents are unavailable to access. Nevertheless, the contents of the website are adequate and will be resourceful for children.

Kullabs

Kullabs provides notes, study materials, academic contents, videos and other multimedia items for middle school, high school, and college students. A project launched in 2012 by Kul Techno Lab and Research Centre, the website is a digital platform for both teachers and students. It provides free contents for learning online.

British Council’s Digital Library in Nepal

British Council’s Digital Library is not for children but for the Nepali nationals 18 years and above. Taking membership in the digital library provides you access to magazines or newspapers from across the globe and multimedia materials such as documentaries and full-length concerts. Moreover, various comics and graphic novels, ebooks, audiobooks and academic books, and online resources for learning English can be explored in the library. The membership for the library must be applied. Those who can become members now can enjoy the facilities free of charges until March 31, 2021.

International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL)

The ICDL’s childrenslibrary.org provides a large collection of children’s literature for free in multiple languages (unfortunately, not in Nepali though). The ICDL Foundation is a non-profit organisation, and the website launched in 2002 consists of 4,619 books in 59 languages.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg contains over 60,000 free ebooks, mostly older literary works published before 1924, for children as well as adults. With registrations required, every book in its catalogue is provided without cost to the readers. Thus, it is a great platform to download classic literature materials such as the works of William Shakespeare or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

Audible

Audible, a product of Amazon, contains audiobooks of various genres. The audiobooks, however, are not freely accessible. Nonetheless, as the schools are closed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, it has let streaming of children’s literature in audiobooks for free through desktop, mobile and apps without any registration or fees.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is an America-based nonprofit organisation which provides different online courses, supplementary exercises and materials for educators on a variety of subjects for free through its websites and apps. Most of the lessons it provides are in the form of short videos on YouTube. Established by an American educator Salman Khan (not to be confused with the Bollywood actor of the same name), the website features the videos that cover a range of subjects taught in schools and all grades from kindergarten to high school. Its app, Khan Academy Kids, is designed for children aged two to six in order to develop their basic skills before admission to a school.

Samples collected for second test

KATHMANDU: Throat and nasal swabs of two COVID-19 positive patients, currently admitted in Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital have been collected for the second round of lab test.

The samples have been sent to National Public Health Laboratory, according to the hospital.

Two patients, a 19-year old Nepali student, who had returned from France via Qatar, tested positive for COVID-19 on March 22. She had arrived in Nepal on March 17 and a 32-year-old Nepali from Dhading district was confirmed as the third coronavirus patient in Nepal.

The man had returned from United Arab Emirates on March 19. He was admitted to the hospital on March 23. The health condition of both patients is normal, according to the hospital.

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Loss of taste, smell key COVID-19 symptoms: British scientists’ study

LONDON: Losing your sense of smell and taste may be the best way to tell if you have COVID-19, according to a study of data collected via a symptom tracker app developed by British scientists to help monitor the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus.

Almost 60% of patients who were subsequently confirmed as positive for COVID-19 had reported losing their sense of smell and taste, the data analysed by the researchers showed.

That compared with 18% of those who tested negative.

These results, which were posted online but not peer-reviewed, were much stronger in predicting a positive COVID-19 diagnosis than self-reported fever, the researchers at King’s College London said.

Of 1.5 million app users between March 24 and March 29, 26% reported one or more symptoms through the app. Of these, 1,702 also reported having been tested for COVID-19, with 579 positive results and 1,123 negative results.

Using all the data collected, the research team developed a mathematical model to identify which combination of symptoms – ranging from loss of smell and taste, to fever, persistent cough, fatigue, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and loss of appetite -was most accurate in predicting COVID-19 infection.

“When combined with other symptoms, people with loss of smell and taste appear to be three times more likely to have contracted COVID-19 according to our data, and should therefore self-isolate for seven days to reduce the spread of the disease,” said Tim Spector, a King’s professor who led the study.

Spector’s team applied their findings to the more than 400,000 people reporting symptoms via the app who had not yet had a COVID-19 test, and found that almost 13% of them are likely to be infected.

This would suggest that some 50,000 people in Britain may have as yet unconfirmed COVID-19 infections, Spector said.

Official figures showed confirmed cases rose 14% in Britain between Monday and Tuesday to 25,150 as of Tuesday at 0800 GMT. The government said 1,789 people have died in hospitals from coronavirus as of 1600 GMT on Monday.

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Trump urges Florida to welcome cruise ship with deadly coronavirus outbreak

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Florida officials to open an Atlantic Coast port to a Dutch cruise ship stuck at sea with a deadly coronavirus outbreak onboard, urging the governor to drop his opposition.

Weighing in on the fate of Holland America Line’s MS Zaandam during a White House briefing, Trump said he would call Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has declared the vessel unwelcome to prevent its sick passengers from being “dumped” on his state.

“They’re dying on the ship,” Trump said, adding, “I’m going to do what’s right, not only for us but for humanity.”

The remarks contrast with his response in February to a different cruise ship, the Grand Princess, which he said should remain at sea instead of coming into port in California.

The Zaandam, idled off the Pacific coast of Central America after the cruise line announced that some passengers were infected with coronavirus and that four had died, was allowed to sail through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean on Sunday.

Nearly two-thirds of the passengers – those who passed a medical screening – were moved onto the Zaandam’s sister ship, the Rotterdam, before the canal transit, and both vessels are now headed to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, officials said.

The Zaandam was carrying nearly 1,050 passengers and crew, and the Rotterdam almost 1,450. But it remained uncertain who would be permitted to disembark in Florida, where concerns about the spread of coronavirus were mounting.

“We cannot afford to have people who aren’t even Floridians dumped into South Florida using up those valuable resources,” DeSantis told Fox News on Monday, referring to the state’s medical facilities. He told a news conference on Monday he preferred to send medical help to the Zaandam.

But in a blog posted on the website of Holland America, a unit of world cruise leader Carnival Corp, company president Orlando Ashford urged authorities to show compassion.

“We are dealing with a ‘not my problem’ syndrome,” he said. “The international community, consistently generous and helpful in the face of human suffering, shut itself off to Zaandam.”

As of Monday, 76 passengers and 117 crew members on the Zaandam were showing influenza-like symptoms, including eight people who have tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, Ashford said.

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UNIFIED COMMAND DECISION

Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine said plans for the Zaandam were being formulated by a “unified command” consisting of officials from the US Coast Guard, the Broward County sheriff, port authorities, the Florida Health Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

He suggested the governor ultimately may not have the final word on the matter.

“He might have an opinion. I don’t know if it’s up to him,” Udine told Reuters by telephone. “The unified command is going to give us a briefing in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

The Zaandam and Rotterdam were still about two days away from Port Everglades, and could arrive no earlier than Thursday night, Udine said.

Florida lawmakers on Tuesday were deadlocked over whether to welcome the Zaandam, with some seeking more information.

Before the passenger transfers, guests aboard the Zaandam said the vessel was carrying more than 200 British nationals, as well as Americans, Canadians, Australians, Germans, Italians, French, Spanish, Dutch and New Zealanders.

On Tuesday afternoon, the two ships were off the Caribbean coast of Central America, headed for the Straits of Yucatan.

The Zaandam departed Argentina on March 7 and had been scheduled to end its journey in San Antonio, Chile, on March 21. Nobody has disembarked from the vessel since it stopped in Punta Arenas, Chile, about two weeks ago.

 

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Attending corona patients a must for private hospitals: SC

Kathmandu, March 31

The Supreme Court today directed private hospitals to attend novel coronavirus patients unconditionally.

Issuing an interim order responding to a writ filed by advocates, the SC said all the private hospital should make necessary arrangements to be ready to treat COVID-19 patients.

It said the hospitals could not shrug off their responsibility on any pretext.

“Private hospitals shall make necessary arrangements of beds, ICUs and ventilators, and ensure safety of medical staff involved in the treatment of COVD-19 patients,” states the SC order.

The petitioner had also demanded that the SC direct the government to suspend the Parliament session and bring a law through an ordinance to make it mandatory for private hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients, claiming that private hospitals were returning patients suspected to have contracted COVID-19.

However, the SC did not issue any such order and set April 5 for hearing. The SC has called both the parties, petitioners and defendants, for a debate on the issue.

Petitioners include advocates Pushparaj Poudel, Saroj Krishna Ghimire, Khagendra Prasad Adhikari, Purnima Rimal, Tikaram Bhattarai and Raju Khadka, while the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers has been named the defendant.

The SC verdict comes amid reports from across the country about hospitals, both private and public, not attending patients showing symptoms matching coronavirus infection.

In a press meet this afternoon, officials of the Ministry of Health and Population said because of hospitals’ reluctance to attend patients showing COVID-19 symptoms, chances were high that individuals suffering from other diseases might lose their lives because of negligence.

They urged all the hospitals and health workers not to worry because COVID-19 had yet to spread at the community- or local-level, and that only those coming from abroad were found infected so far.

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Don’t use mask!

Kathmandu, 1 April: Are you suffering from coronavirus? Are you involved in treatment of the coronavirus patient treatment? If not, you don’t need to put mask, reports Annapurna Post daily.

Executive director of the Emergency Health Programme of the World Health Organisation, briefed the media in Geneva that there is no evidence of healthy people being benefited from wearing mask.

Only those team members attending the coronavirus patients and the patient are needed to wear mask, the WHO official said.

People’s News Monitoring Service

Airlines industries facing crisis

Kathmandu, 1 April: Due to the COVID-19 epidemic the global networking has been disrupted, from which, the airlines companies have felt serious crisis.

All the airlines companies are facing big loss for last two months. They are not even able to pay the parking charge of the aircraft, according to a report appeared in the Annapurna Post daily.

 

Currently, one fourth of the world population is in lockdown. It may take long time for people to travel with confidence that coronavirus pandemic would over.

If the present situation will continue, almost all airlines companies will be bankrupted, the daily has reported.

People’s News Monitoring Service

Foreign Minister Gwawali compares critics with “eagle and dog”

Kathmandu, 1 April: Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali has compared the government critics with “eagle and dog”, from which he has fallen into controversy.

Minister Gwayali, in an interview to a government media, had said, “Eagles don’t look after flower but look towards dead bodies”, reports Annapurna Post daily.  When he compared those critics of the government with eagles eating dead bodies, he has fallen into controversy.

People’s News Monitoring Service

Govt adopts three-pronged approach to fight COVID-19

Kathmandu, March 31

The government has adopted three major strategies in its fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at a press briefing this afternoon, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population Bikash Devkota said quarantine would be strictly implemented under the supervision of security agencies, testing would be made broader, with all those coming from foreign countries to be tested, and the government would spruce up logistic arrangements by running fever clinics and setting up intensive care units.

Devkota added that the government would be adopting stricter lockdown measures.

He said the high-level committee for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus was coordinating with other executive committees to ensure stringent lockdown. “I just came from the high-level committee meeting that adopted such a measure,” said Devkota.

The government has formed other committees, besides the high-level panel led by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel. They include a facilitation committee led by Chief Secretary Lok Darshan Regmi, Operations Committee led by a secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, provincial committees led by chief ministers and district committees led by district coordination committees.

“These committees are executive committees. They ensure implementation of decisions taken by the government,” said Devkota.

He added that these committees had been authorised to take decisions on quarantine, isolation, human resources and everything related to COVID-9 treatment.

Devkota said after Dharan, COVID-19 testing would start in Pokhara. He said testing in Dhangadi and Pokhara would begin soon, and the government would also dispatch necessary equipment to Butwal and Surkhet.

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Reverse migration spreads to Nepal

Migrant workers plan to walk hundreds of kilometres from Kathmandu to reach home

Kathmandu, March 31

Hundreds of daily wage earners stranded in Kathmandu valley have started embarking on a long walk home after the government extended the lockdown, clamped to contain spread of coronavirus disease, by a week till next Tuesday. The same phenomenon is being witnessed in neighbouring India as well where hundreds of thousands of daily wage earners have taken to the streets to reach home on foot.

In Nepal also, these people will have to walk hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes, and they are resolute on completing their journey, as they have started running out of money here to buy food and cover other expenses.

Indrajit Mahato, 52, a construction worker, is one of the persons who has decided to cover 300 km on foot to reach his hometown in Siraha district.

His entourage consists of his wife, two sons and three other friends from his home district.

“We had no option but to return home as we ran out of food stock this morning. And we do not have money to survive in the city,” said Mahato, who was spotted at Gatthagar last evening. When THT met him, he and his team had already walked for more than an hour from Maharajgunj, where they were living.

Mahato and those accompanying him did not have proper shoes to wear. They did not even have Rs 2,000 in their pockets. And they did not have any plan on where to stop over at night. But they are confident about reaching home in five to six days. “We can complete the journey within that time if we sleep and take breaks on the roadsides for six to seven hours a day,” said Mahato. But none of them was carrying sleeping bags or light mattresses.

Mahato and those accompanying him knew the journey was going to be tough for them, but life has never been easy for daily wage earners like him who become early victims of any crisis that hits the country.

“The cash we are carrying will be enough to buy food for several days.

We have also carried bread, couple of kilograms of beaten rice and some dalmoth (dry snacks),” Mahato’s wife Sarita said. “Let’s see if we can hitchhike every now and then.”

Hundreds of low-wage migrant workers like Mahato, who are fast running out of money, have started walking home from the valley, as no public buses are plying the streets due to the lockdown, which started on March 24. The government had initially said the lockdown would continue till March 31 morning but it later extended it till April 7 midnight.

The one-week extension has made things difficult for many migrant workers, especially daily wage earners.

Lately, district administration offices are allowing migrant workers to be transported to their hometowns.

But many are left behind as the information has not been well disseminated.

At around 7:00pm yesterday, Krishna Thapa, 51, and his daughter Asmita, 17, were spotted at Jadibuti in Kathmandu. The father and daughter had come to Jadibuti from Basundhara as one of their close relatives had promised to book a bus ticket for them to travel to their home at Khurkot in Sindhuli.

“We were told to arrive here at five, but it’s already seven and the bus has not arrived yet. The person who had promised to book the ticket has also stopped receiving my calls,” said Krishna.

Around that time some other people, who were supposed to take the same bus to Sindhuli, had also gathered at Jadibuti. But since there was no sign of the bus coming to pick them up, they were all set to walk home.

“I hope we can reach our village by tomorrow evening if we start walking now,” said Santa Thapaliya from Sindhuli. This afternoon THT met people in Jadibuti who were planning to travel to Dolakha and Sindhupalchowk on foot.

“We are not obstructing people, who must visit home, from taking vehicles,” said Bhaktapur Chief District Officer Humakala Pandey, adding, “If people want to visit their ailing parents, have to attend to their pregnant wife or rush home because of somebody’s death or because of a newborn baby, then we allow them to do so.”

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Chinese defy lockdown; clash with locals in Lamjung

Province 4, Lamjung, Marsyangdi, Ward 6 - #Governance, LAMJUNG: Chinese nationals have clashed with locals at Thulobesi of Marsyangdi rural municipality-6 in the district on Tuesday morning.The situation took a nasty turn after locals protested when the construction materials were brought into the village during the lockdown.The clashes between the two groups occurred when the locals protested after the two trucks laden with construction materials arrived at the Nyadi Hydropower, said Dilmaya Thapa, a representative of Ward no. 6.According to Nabin Kuinkel, a journalist, locals lost their temper after the under-construction hydropower brought the construction materials by clearing the barbed wire put up along the road.Locals have said that they came into blows with Chinese nationals after they brought the construction materials at a time when the entire country is under lockdown.Fearing the infection of coronavirus, locals took to the streets against the Chinese nationals after they intensified their activities defying the lockdown.Meanwhile, police intervened in the clash to preempt the untoward situation.It looks that when the villagers tried to suggest the Chinese nationals to refrain from moving during the lockdown, the Chinese got into a confrontation with the locals.Around 30 of them went to the project site and returned with khukuris targeting the locals agitating the local further.A local Karan Thapa said the Chinese took to retaliation when the local administration objected to their violation of the lockdown. “The locals protested after the Chinese violated the government’s instruction to refrain from coming out of the house,” he said.The police have called for a meeting between the two sides to seek a solution. However, the locals have to complain that the incident portrays the bullish, aggressive and arrogant attitude of the Chinese.To be able to pick up khukuris to attack local Nepali villagers is reflective of the way the Chinese view the Nepalese people while working in the Nepali land.This aggressive and rude attitude of the Chinese needs to be seen in the backdrop of an incident last year when a large number of Nepali workers were sent back from Taklakot in Tibet because a Nepali worker had murdered a Chinese woman.More than 500 Nepalese workers were sent back during that period just because one of them had committed a crime. Nepali workers had then protested saying why should all of them suffer because of a single person’s misdeed.However, the Chinese side treated the entire group as one and blamed them for the action of an individual. The latest move portrays Chinese attitude as they tend to act as an authority as in their land in Nepal as well.It should be noted that Wang Yun Peng, a Chinese businessman, had attacked a taxi driver in Thamel on March 13, 2020, alleging the latter of parking his taxi in front of his hotel. Locals of the area had retaliated the Chinese move fuelling confrontation between the two sides.

Two youths in Saptari assaulted by APF during lockdown

Province 2, Saptari, Balan Bihul, Ward 3 - #Governance, An Armed Police Force( APF) personnel has assaulted Hare Krishna Shah and Chandra Yadav of Bihul Rural Municipality-3 on the accusation of violating the lockdown. They were beaten up while returning home after buying medicines from Laukaha Bazar of Bihar on Monday.  APF is investigating the incident. 

Woman found murdered in Madhyapur Thimi

Province 3, Bhaktapur, Madhyapur Thimi - #GBV, A woman's beheaded body has been found in Hanumante river bordering Gatthaghar of Madhyapur Thimi Municipality and Balkot of Suryabinayak Municipality on Monday evening. Police suspect the woman's body was disposed of around a week ago after murdering her. The woman appeared to be 28 to 30 years old.  A team of SP Sabin Pradhan of Metropolitan Police Circle Bhaktapur and SP Mukesh Kumar Singh of Criminal Investigation Bureau inspected the site of the incident and sent the body for postmortem to Teaching Hospital. 

Covid-19: In this grim situation, here are a few down-to-earth precautions that you can take

As of March 31, 2020 (3:32 GMT), the global spread of Covid-19 said to be caused by the SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus) has reached 697,244 people with death counts of 33,257 individuals, according to the World Health Organization data.

The stats that come every day on the news are still alarming; the figures seem to be constantly on the rise and have triggered a massive global outbreak. The situation is grim worldwide and as of today, no country has been able to contain the deadly virus for which there is no vaccine or treatment and has already spread to over 200 countries and territories in the world since first appearing in China a few months ago.

Although one of the latest news reports that a vaccine called mRNA-1273 has been already developed and a clinical trial on humans will soon begin in Seattle, USA, it might take some time before the positive results come.

The latest WHO updates issued via a press conference conducted in Geneva, Switzerland, stated that an experiment is being carried out on a patient at Oslo University Hospital, Nyalden, Norway, the first-ever volunteer so far since the outbreak of Covid-19.

Grim situation

Countries worldwide are locking down people, and public places. Borders are being shut down.  And it seems no country in the world has to this date staved off this disaster. In March 2020, the WHO declared the spread as a pandemic.

In Nepal too, people are fully aware of the dire situation and are informed, alert, and intellectually agile. Catchphrases like “social distancing”, “quarantine”, and “isolation” hog the headlines each day. People are shunning exposure to crowded places and gatherings.  Safety precautions against the deadly virus have become mandatory. The automated statutory warning initiated by Nepal Telecom on every call you make or receive has further put people on their guard.

Till early last week, only a solitary case of Covid-19 was reported and successfully treated at the Shukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku. But a number of news articles that followed–“a tested-positive case of Covid-19, a 19-year woman arriving from France on the Qatar Airways, admitted at the Sukraraj Hospital is undergoing treatment,” and  “a man isolated in a special coronavirus-earmarked hospital in Bharatpur, Chitwan died while undergoing treatment”–has reawakened new fear and uncertainty among the Nepali people.

Bharatpur Coronavirus Special Hospital

The latest news reports that the number of cases tested positive has reached five individuals in Nepal. Meanwhile, last week came the official lockdown and the government directive to the citizens not to leave their homes. It looks we are at the complete mercy of this fatal illness that seems invincible. And the world seems to be fighting a losing battle.

Our lives have been reduced to nothing but a ‘solitary confinement’. But the world is not giving in to this deadly disease so easily; the battle against the deadly virus is ongoing and the scientists, the world over, have all combined and are working day and night in putting their best possible efforts to address it.

Holistic approach

Do you not think at this hour of grave crisis, we have to strengthen ourselves both mentally and physically? In plain language, we have to keep our wits about us. Apart from abiding by hygiene and sanitations and the basic precautionary measures as directed by the WHO, is it not time we kept ourselves fit and healthy and also think about our daily dietary requirements?

This is the time we have to take a holistic approach to our lifestyle and prepare ourselves to stay motivated, eat properly, do a daily workout, avoid stress and sleep well. They are the most essential factors and stand as the underpinnings for a healthy life.

Food contamination

File: Consumers buy various goods in a grocery shop, in Kathmandu, in March 2020.

It goes without saying, we have to eat and buy groceries, fruits, vegetables, and meat and poultry to meet our daily dietary requirements. The question is: how safe is the food in the market? When going to the market is in itself a hefty proposition now, buying at crowded shops or supermarkets is no less than a ‘trial by ordeal’ because to break the six-foot social distancing rule seems but impossible.

The question has become a global issue. A growing unease and the sense that you are never too sure what might happen next suspend in mid-air over our heads. The world is gripped by uncertainty and doubts followed by unhealthy speculations and gossips regarding the possibility of the food we buy getting contaminated by the coronavirus. It’s but natural as the spread of the virus shows no letting up.

In the USA and Europe, as restaurants shut down, most working people still buy take-out food catered by food outlets and drive-ins. Angela L Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist in the faculty of the Centre for Infection and Immunity at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in an article by Victoria Forster for Forbes says: “There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by eating food. I imagine that if this is possible, the risk is extremely low.”

Going by the experts, same goes for buying goods at the local grocery stores and vegetable markets. No evidence has come to the notice suggesting Covid-19 is passed on through food or the water system. The main risk of transmission is from close contact with infected people.

“It’s not about the food that you buy, it’s about the interaction you have with other people at the grocery store.” said Brian Labus, a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ School of Public Health for a Huffington Post story. Latest research writings by experts also substantiate these findings.

FDA, the US Food and Drug Administration, also states, “Unlike foodborne gastrointestinal (GI) viruses like norovirus and hepatitis A that often make people ill through contaminated food, SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, is a virus that causes respiratory illness. Foodborne exposure to this virus is not known to be a route of transmission.”

“The SARS- CoV-2 virus is usually transmitted through direct contact with an infected person’s body fluids like from coughing or sneezing or indirectly through contact with surfaces. Coronaviruses need a host and cannot grow in food,” states Dr. Laxman Jessani, Consultant, Infectious Diseases, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, in an article in The Indian Express.

Down-to-earth precautions

According to the WHO, we should avoid consumption of raw or undercooked food such as meat products, raw milk or uncooked vegetables to stave off cross-contamination.

Buying at the market has posed a world of problems. It is, however, sensible not to take chances when you go out to buy your groceries and vegetables.  A friend of mine from the States has devised a seemingly ingenious idea on how to handle the groceries at home after back from the local bazaar or a supermarket. He calls it the “Three-Box System.” Let’s check it out.

Day 1 – While wearing gloves (always), I put the day’s newspapers and mail, and any grocery or other purchases brought home in paper or plastic bags, all in one box.

Day 2 – I do the same in a second box.

Day 3 – Ditto.

Day 4 – I remove what is in box no.1 (assuming it is safe to enter the house). I put the new stuff in the box in its place . . . we keep the boxes rotating like that. He wrote: “It works for us.” Maybe it will work for you as it does not sound very complicated.

He further wrote: Here are some things you can consider doing, same as we are doing although, so far, not mandated by government (other than the stay-at-home rule, and social distancing, etc.)…

1. When going out to shop, etc, (as rarely as possible), we wear old clothes that are easily washed and dried afterward.
2. Wear gloves that are also easily washed and dried when you come home. Wear a mask, too, if you have one. Before entering your house, shed your clothes and put them away for washing. Take a hot shower using a lot of soap and change into fresh clothes.
3. Go to the store, do your best to maintain a physical distance of six feet from others (virtually impossible, but try!), and don’t worry about the store clerk’s hands putting food in your bags. If you use a grocery cart, wipe it down first with a sanitising wipe.
4. Bring the groceries home, and outside on the stoop or in a garage or adjacent shed, set them down, then use either a hot wet soapy washcloth or sanitising wipe to clean them off.

Perhaps you should have it ready ahead of time. Regarding sanitising wipes or hand cleanser, the authorities say the best has 60% alcohol content, though wipes with essential oils also work. Wipe everything brought into the house as best you can. Rinse all veggies and fruits etc, with clean potable water. You can use soapy water too, if appropriate. And wipe down the surface on which you are setting the wiped or rinsed items, after putting them away in the fridge or on a shelf.

5. About the bags — either plastic or paper — while still wearing your gloves, set them aside in a place you don’t often go, for a full three days.

Don’t touch them until the 3rd or 4th day. By then, any virus droplets will have disappeared or died or whatever. The findings recently announced in a journal point out that the virus survives on cardboard, paper, plastic, etc, for up to three full days!

Stay safe, take every single safety measure possible. “One of the most important preventive measures for mitigating viral and food-borne illness while working with food is to wash hands with soap and water frequently, in-between the handling of raw and uncooked foods, and before handling any food,” said Dr. Matthew Curran, FDACS Director of Food Safety.

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