काठमाडौं : विदेशबाट नेपाल आएका व्यक्तिमा मात्र कोरोना पुष्टि भएको थियो। पहिलो पटक नेपाल भित्रै कोरोना संक्रमण सरेको पुष्टि भएको छ। नेपालमै सरेकी ३४ वर्षीया महिला, मुम्बइबाट फर्किएका कैलालीका २१ वर्षीय पुरूष र भारतकै उत्तराखण्डबाट आएका कञ्चनपुरका ४१ वर्षीय पुरूषमा शनिबार सेती प्रादेशिक अस्पतालमा कोरोना पुष्टि भएको हो। नेपालमा  संक्रमितको संख्या ९ पुगेको छ। चार जनाको  धनगढीको सेती प्रादेशिक अस्पताल, दुई जनाको शुक्रराज ट्रपिकल तथा सरुवा रोग अस्पताल, टेकु र दुई जनाको बागलुङमा उपचार भइराखेको छ।

Danielle just turned two weeks old, and she still hasn’t been hugged by her grandparents. They’ve come close. After Danielle was released from the hospital, alongside her parents Andrew and Joanne, her grandparents on the father’s side visited the house. They didn’t come close to Danielle, or cradle her. Instead, they stood on the deck. Just to be safe. Given the need for social distancing — and the added vulnerability of the elderly to the virus — it was probably the right call.

Danielle is a baby born into the strange chaos of the most widespread pandemic since the Spanish flu.
(Some names in this story have been changed for privacy reasons.)

It’s March 2020, and COVID-19 has the entire world on lockdown as cases continue soaring upward. Almost every country affected has put restrictions in place to stop the disease from spreading. In the US, many states are fully locked down. In Italy, where conditions are dire, humans are essentially under house arrest. In Spain, the military disinfects the care homes of the elderly, often discovering corpses in the process. Life as we know it has changed. 

Hospitals, especially maternity wards, are far from immune. In the past few weeks, processes put in place to protect patients and staff have changed dramatically. In Australia, expectant mothers are usually allowed two support people in the delivery room — maybe a partner and a parent. Now they’re only allowed one. Doors that were once open to visitors are now locked. Literally locked.

These changes make perfect sense in the current climate. Hospitals more than any other institution are required to protect at-risk segments of the population. That includes pregnant women and newborns. “It’s weird. There are strictly no visitors allowed in the hospital,” says Jason, who recently became a father for the second time. “Partners only. They’ve stopped doing all their usual classes to help new parents learn how to live with a baby.”

I read a story on Facebook about a family heartbroken over their previously healthy son who was fighting for his life in a hospital after succumbing to the COVID-19 coronavirus. They were unable to hold his hand or talk to him in the hopes he could hear them as the rhythmic whoosh of the ventilator kept his body alive. I prayed for someone I don’t know to heal. I prayed for his family to be granted some semblance of peace in knowing all that could be done was being done, albeit for them from a distance too far for comforting. It made me realize how in our everyday world, the common factor, if you can call it comfort, is the way we tend to focus on our differences. But then whenever there is a catastrophic event or some situation that shakes us to our very core and drops us to our knees, we realize we are all the same.

The entire world, not just the city or state or country we live in – ALL of us – are united in this fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Not one single place on planet Earth is safe from this unpredictable and wretched virus – not one. The number of confirmed cases climbs every day and is close to the 1 million mark as of this writing while nearly 50,000 have died. On the upside, close to 200,000 have recovered.

I wish that as people, we would realize and more importantly remember that we are all simply and perfectly part of the single human race. Americans are the same as Chinese. Italians are the same as Australians. Germans are the same as Bahamians.Being the human beings that we are, our nature leads us to believe we will not be one of those people who gets sick or if we do, we’ll be able to fight it off on our own. But this virus is showing us it has no rhyme or reason. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, rich or poor, brown or white. If it wants you, it will take you. As we go forward and as in the history of other stampeding viruses, this moment of time in our world will eventually become statistics in the pages of history. Successful treatment will be followed by a vaccine. The stark memories of lives lost and the grip on the entire planet will fade.

When that happens, will we then forget that we were all united? That we all referred to Earth as our home – not just my house on Bellevue Avenue, or my city of Rome, or my country North Korea. During this time of great uncertainty, we all belonged to one family called humanity. And although we were literally in the fight for our lives, we were unified, and all the nonsense of trade wars, government politics, religious differences, and geographical borders faded away into unimportant. As during 9/11 when the motto became “We will never forget,” when we step back into the sunshine away from the darkness of this virus, “Let us always remember,” when it comes down to it, we are all one sharing the same home, wanting the same simply humble and happy lives.

काठमाडौँ, २० चैत : त्रेतायुगमा आजकै दिन भारतको अयोध्यामा राजा दशरथ र रानी कौशल्यावतीका सुपुत्रका रुपमा विष्णुको अवतार लिएर भगवान् श्रीरामको जन्म मनाइँदै छ ।
हिन्दू धर्मावलम्बीहरुको आस्थाको पर्व रामनवमी, देशैभरि श्रद्धापूर्वक मनाइँदै छ । त्रेतायुगमा आजकै दिन भारतको अयोध्यामा राजा दशरथ र रानी कौशल्यावतीका सुपुत्रका रुपमा विष्णुको अवतार लिएर भगवान् श्रीरामको जन्म भएको बताइन्छ । हिन्दू धर्म ग्रन्थ रामायणका अनुसार यो दिनलाई भगवान् रामचन्द्रको जन्म दिनको रुपमा लिइन्छ । यो पर्व चैत्र नवरात्रको बीचमा आउने भएकाले यो दिन भगवान् श्रीरामका साथै आद्य शक्ति नव दुर्गा देवीको पनि पूजा हुन्छ । रामनवमीका दिन जनकपुर स्थित रामजानकी मन्दिरमा भव्य मेला लाग्ने गर्दथ्यो । मेलामा नेपाल तथा भारतका हजारौं श्रद्धालुको घुइँचो हुन्थ्यो ।

लकडाउन उल्लंघन नगर्न सम्झाउँदा हवल्दारमाथि चक्कु प्रहारको छ । प्रहरीले लखेट्दै भुलाँचा चोकम्म पुगेपछि सो व्यक्तिले हवल्दारमाथि फेरि चक्कु प्रहार गरेर भागे को जानाएको छ । घट्नाको सम्बन्धमा थप अनुसन्धान अघि बढाएको जगाती वृत्तले जनाएको छ । चक्कु लागेर घाइते प्रहरी हवल्दार केशरसिंह रावतको गालामा घाउ लागेको छ । सो व्यक्ति गुलेली र चक्कुसहित नियन्त्रणमा लिएको महानगरिय प्रहरी वृत्त जगातीले जानाएको छ ।

काठमाडौं : अन्तरर्राष्ट्रिय बजारमा कच्चा तेलको मूल्य १० रुपैयाँ घटाएको छ ।  राति १२ बजे देखि डिजेल र पेट्रोलको मूल्य १० रुपैयाँ लागू हुनेछ । हवाई इन्धन (आन्तरिक उडानतर्फ) प्रतिलिटर रु १५ ले मूल्य समायोजन गरिएको छ । निगमले आन्तरिकतर्फको हवाई इन्धनको मूल्य प्रतिलिटर ७५ तोकेको छ ।