These are some of the best stories from The Kathmandu Post (March 20, 2020). A health worker examines people who arrived at Krishnanagar, Kapilvastu, from India. Manoj Poudel/TKP
Here are some of the big stories from today's The Kathmandu Post.
House panel endorses bill allowing intelligence agency to listen in on conversations
The federal parliament is readying to pass an amendment to the Special Service Act but privacy activists and legal experts are concerned that the bill allows the government to trade the privacy of citizens away for security concerns.
The bill to amend the Special Service Act was registered in the National Assembly late last year, despite opposition from the Nepali Congress. It was then under deliberation at the Legislation Management Committee of the Assembly, which endorsed the bill unanimously on Thursday. The amendment bill allows intelligence officials to listen in on conversations of “suspects” without a court order.
Nepal looks to India and China for lessons on containing the coronavirus
As Nepal prepares for an eventual Covid-19 outbreak, it is looking towards both neighbours for best practices to contain the virus.
China, where the coronavirus originated, has officially offered help in the form of medical support and logistics should Nepal require it while India has pledged $10 million towards a fund that any South Asian nation will be able to make use to fight the virus.
Addressing a weekly media briefing in New Delhi, Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said that India has informally received a request from Nepal and the Maldives for a rapid response team with medical equipment to contain the possible outbreak of coronavirus.
For health workers on the front lines, no training and no protective gear
On Sunday night, doctors and nurses at the Green City Hospital in Basundhara were in an uproar. A man in his late 40s had just arrived complaining of diarrhoea but he said he had just visited the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital for a fever, suspecting he might’ve contracted Covid-19.
Upon hearing his account and given the symptoms he presented—fever and diarrhoea, —health workers began to panic.
“We were afraid of possible transmission,” a nurse at the hospital told the Post on condition of anonymity. “Some nursing staff even started crying.”
Government launches coordinated inspections to curb black marketeering of essential goods
A team from the Metropolitan Crime Division, Teku on Wednesday arrested a person for hoarding one million face masks for a profit.
According to the division, the team swung into action following a tip-off that Yuvaraj Neupane of Gorkha was hoarding the masks at a store in Sanobharyang, Kathmandu.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that Neupane had brought the masks from China nearly two weeks ago,” said Senior Superintendent Sahakul Thapa, chief of the Metropolitan Crime Division. “He was planning to make a profit by selling the masks at a high price as the market was facing a shortage of masks amidst Covid-19 fears.”
Govt prepares to reduce number of prisoners and detainees amid virus scare
Fearing the spread of coronavirus in overcrowded prisons and detention centres, the government has started preparations to lower the number of prisoners and detainees.
The Office of the Attorney General plans to use judicial as well as executive orders to review existing legal provisions to allow prisoners and detainees behind bars over minor offences.
“We already have legal provisions to suspend punishments handed to juvenile delinquents,” said Deputy Attorney General Narayan Prasad Sharma.There are also provisions to allow authorities to water down sentences handed to elderly citizens.
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