Budget 2018-19

  In a wake of global fear of new coronavirus variant Omicron, Nepal has decided to put a ban on nine countries including Hong Kong. In a wake of global fear of new coronavirus  variant Omicron , Nepal has decided to put a ban on nine countries including Hong Kong. A meeting of the council of ministers has decided to ban entry of passengers arriving from and transiting South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi and Hong Kong. As per the officials, travellers who have been to any of these nine countries in past three weeks also will be restricted from entering the Himalayan Nation. “As per the order passed by the cabinet meeting earlier on Monday, new restrictions on arrival from those 9 nations has been imposed. It already has gone into effect from Friday early morning. All the concerned authorities have been duly informed,” Phadindramani Pokhrel, spokesperson at the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed to ANI over phone…. Read More

  The omicron variant has 50 mutations overall, with 32 mutations on the spike protein alone A new variant named omicron (B.1.1.529) was reported by researchers in South Africa on Nov. 24, 2021, and designated a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization two days later. Omicron is very unusual in that it is by far the most heavily mutated variant yet of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The  omicron variant  has 50 mutations overall, with 32 mutations on the spike protein alone. The spike protein – which forms protruding knobs on the outside of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – helps the virus adhere to cells so that it can gain entry. It is also the protein that all three vaccines currently available in the U. S. use to induce protective antibodies. For comparison, the delta variant has nine mutations. The larger number of mutations in the omicron variant may mean that it could be more transmissible and/or better at evading immune protection – a prospect that i...

  Hunting for variants requires a concerted effort. South Africa and the UK were the first big countries to implement nationwide genomic surveillance efforts for SARS-CoV-2 as early as April 2020. Since early in the COVID pandemic, the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa has been monitoring changes in SARS-CoV-2. This was a valuable tool to understand better how the virus spread. In late 2020, the network detected a new virus lineage, 501Y. V2, which later became known as the beta variant. Now a new SARS-CoV-2 variant has been identified – B.1.1.529. The World Health Organisation has declared it a variant of concern, and assigned it the name  Omicron . To help us understand more, The Conversation Africa’s Ozayr Patel asked scientists to share what they know. What’s the science behind the search? Hunting for variants requires a concerted effort. South Africa and the UK were the first big countries to implement nationwide genomic surveillance efforts for  SARS...