Tribhuvan International Airport. Photo Courtesy: Aviation Nepal/TIA Facebook Page

December 1: The government has decided to take necessary precaution to prevent the entry of Omicron variant of COVID-19. According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, a cabinet meeting held on November 29 issued an order regarding the travel management of passengers coming to Nepal from countries where Omicron has been detected.    
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the new variant could spread rapidly and cause serious infection. The new variant has been detected in South Africa, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, RSS further reported.    
Arrangements have been made for passengers coming from countries with reported case of the variant to undergo tests at Tribhuvan International Airport and to be kept in hotel quarantine, according to government's spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.    

The cabinet meeting also decided to form a negotiating team on behalf of the Government of Nepal to receive a concessional loan of 10 billion Japanese yen (approximately Rs 10.39 billion) from the Japanese government for economic growth and productivity.    
The meeting approved the protocol prepared for the agreement between Nepal and China on exporting helix (processed grass) to China.    
Likewise, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given approval to send a diplomatic note to the United Nations to implement the Standard Basic Assistance Agreement between the Government of Nepal and the UNDP.