GENEVA, July 28: Bans on international travel cannot stay in place indefinitely, and countries are going to have to do more to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus within their borders, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

Reimagining governance

April 29, 2020 16:00 pm

Many countries have implemented lockdown hoping to reverse epidemic growth by decreasing infection numbers to low levels by social distancing the entire population as coronavirus continues to spread globally. As a result, the global economy faces the worst recession since the Great Depression. This has come about because of the overtly hierarchical bureaucratic structures of the World Health Organization (WHO) and most governments around the world are not designed to be agile and responsive to tackle a global pandemic such as COVID-19. There is no denying that the pandemic has exposed a crisis of global governance. Maybe now is the right time to reimagine governance for the hyper globalized, overpopulated, and digitalized world of the 21st century.

China leads

April 24, 2020 14:42 pm

While hundreds of millions of people are put under strict quarantine measures across the world, China, which was the epicenter of the initial outbreak, is gradually lifting inter-cities travel bans and revamping mobility in the streets. The “Chinese model” of applying strict measures to contain virus spread, which was initially deemed unpopular, is now being implemented across democracies like the United States, India, or even Nepal with strict enforcement.

What’s the plan?

April 8, 2020 09:01 am

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli addressed the nation on Tuesday. But frankly, his address does not inspire optimism, confidence, and hope among the people who have been struggling to keep going during these hard days of lockdown. The PM has touched on all aspects. He talked about the deaths of Nepalis abroad, spoke of how many are infected across the world and in Nepal, how suspected people are being put in quarantine, what is the situation of Nepalis returning home from India stuck at the border due to lockdown, how the government is providing additional facilities to the health professionals working from the frontline, how it is coordinating and working together with provincial and local governments in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, so on and so forth. He urged all to stay home to remain safe and asked to maintain physical distancing, asked foreign returnees to stay in quarantine for at least 14 days and also informed that he had started holding talks with the head of states/governments to take stock of Nepali nationals in various countries. Appreciating the role played by media, he urged them to disseminate positive news and information to encourage people to be strong enough to cope up with adversity.