Nepal

KATHMANDU, May 17 (NNN-NEPALNEWA) – The Nepali government, on Saturday, confirmed the first death from COVID-19.

Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population said, a 29-year-old woman from Sindhupalchwok, in the country’s central region, died, while being brought to a hospital, in the outskirt of the capital, Kathmandu.

“A detailed investigation and a series of tests confirmed that this is the first death due to COVID-19 in the country,” read the statement.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A blast in a remote part of Nepal has killed four children, police said on Friday, with suspicion it was caused by old ordnance left over from a decade-long Maoist insurgency.

The children, aged from five to 13, had taken cattle to graze in a forest in the northwestern district of Rolpa on Thursday when they found a device and played with it, probably mistaking it for a toy, said police official Shanta Kumar K.C.

“It may have been abandoned during the conflict,” he said. Authorities were investigating.

Kathmandu, Mar 27 (AP) A rescue flight arranged by the German government on Friday picked up hundreds of tourists who had been stranded in Nepal since the Himalayan nation went on lockdown earlier this week, officials said.

The Qatar Airways charter flight took off with 305 people on board, said Deo Chandra Lal Karna, an official at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.

KATHMANDU, Mar 23 (NNN-NEPALNEWS) — With the increasing spread of COVID-19 infection across the world, Nepal decided to shut down its border with China and India for a week.

The decision was made in a cabinet meeting, held on Sunday evening, under the leadership of Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli at his official residence, Baluwatar. It was the first cabinet meeting held by PM Oli, after his kidney transplant.

KATHMANDU, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Friday announced a number of prohibitive measures including suspension of incoming international flights to Nepal and long-distance transport operation amid COVID-19 outbreak.

In an address to the nation on Friday evening, the prime minister announced that all the incoming international flights to Nepal have been suspended from March 22 to March 31 and all the long-haul transportation services have also been halted from March 23.

KATHMANDU, Mar 21 (NNN-XINHUA) – Nepali Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, on Friday, announced a number of prohibitive measures, including suspension of incoming international flights to Nepal, and long-distance transport operation, amid COVID-19 outbreak.

In an address to the nation on Friday evening, the prime minister announced that, all incoming international flights to Nepal will be suspended, from tomorrow: Mar 22 to Mar 31, and all long-haul transportation services have also been halted from Mar 23.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal has closed all of its Himalayan peaks including Mount Everest this climbing season because of fears of the coronavirus outbreak, a government minister said on Friday.

Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains including Mount Everest, gets more than four million dollars in permit fees for the world’s highest peak and other mountains every year.

Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai said expeditions to all peaks in the March-May spring season had been suspended.

“Climbing this season has been closed,” Bhattarai told Reuters.

Kathmandu, Jan 24 (PTI) If India can resolve its land boundary issue with Bangladesh then why not with Nepal, Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali said on Friday, referring to the lingering territorial differences between the two neighbours.

India in November released fresh maps of the newly-created union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. In the maps, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is part of Jammu and Kashmir, while Gilgit-Baltistan is in Ladakh.

KATHMANDU, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Four South Koreans and three Nepalis remained missing since Friday following an avalanche in western Kaski district, as over 150 foreign tourists and Nepalis were rescued on Saturday from around the area, local officials and trekking agencies said.

The incessant snowfall caused the avalanche near a popular trekking route in the Himalayan country. The area is close to the base camp for Annapurna, one of the highest peaks in the Himalayas.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Police in Nepal have detained 122 Chinese men and women in its biggest crackdown on crime by foreigners entering the country on tourist visas, officials said on Tuesday.

The chief of police in the capital Kathmandu said the suspects were rounded up in raids on Monday following information that they were engaged in suspicious activities.