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Nepal reported 10 new Covid-19 cases on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 600 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which nine returned positive. Likewise, 1,091 people underwent antigen tests, of which one was tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 34 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 350 active cases in the country.

India’s tally of daily COVID-19 cases nearly doubled on Monday from the previous day to more than 2,000 for the first time in a month, government data showed, and the southern state of Kerala reported a big jump in deaths, Reuters reported.

India was at the centre of the global COVID crisis this time last year but the situation has improved since then and most precautions including the wearing of masks have recently been dropped.

But cases have been creeping up in the country of 1.35 billion people, with 2,183 new infections reported on Monday, taking the running total to more than 43 million, according to health ministry data, according to Reuters.

The ministry reported 214 more deaths, including 151 since April 13 in the southern state of Kerala, which is widely considered to issue more accurate data than many other states.

India has reported a total of about 522,000 deaths from the coronavirus though many global experts have said its real death toll could be up to 4 million, from several hundred million cases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has repeatedly rejected those higher estimates saying the mathematical models used to estimate deaths in smaller countries cannot be relied on for India, Reuters reported.

Apart from Kerala, the capital, Delhi, and the states of Maharashtra and Haryana reported triple-digit increases in infections in the past 24 hours.

However, hospitalisations remained low though those numbers have also been inching up over recent days since all restrictions were dropped, according to Reuters.

Doctors across Sri Lanka say hospitals are running out of medicines and essential supplies as the country’s economic crisis worsens. They fear a health catastrophe if international help doesn’t arrive soon, BBC reported.

“Day by day things are running out. If we get to the point where it’s zero, then I don’t know what will happen,” says Dr Gnanasekaram anxiously.

As secretary of Sri Lanka’s Association of Medical Specialists, the surgeon has been busy compiling lists of which medicines are running low at hospitals in the capital Colombo.

“We are short of medical drugs, anaesthetic drugs, implants, suture materials. We are nearly exhausting the stock.

“Healthcare services are going to collapse unless there’s immediate relief,” he says.

I meet Dr Gnanasekaram between consultations – he says he’s hoping this interview will encourage international donors to come forward, according to BBC.

If supplies aren’t replenished soon, the doctor warns of dire consequences.

“If that happens there may be a situation where we won’t be able to save patients’ lives.”

Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst economic crisis in history. The country imports around 85% of its medical supplies. But with foreign currency reserves running low, essential drugs are now difficult to obtain.

At his office in Sri Lanka’s largest children’s hospital, Lady Ridgeway, medical director Dr Wijesuriya shows me a piece of paper with a list of essential drugs on it.

Next to the name of the medicine, there’s a column showing availability.

Some like atracurium – used in anaesthetics – have only two months of stock left. But as I scan the list further, other drugs are in even shorter supply, BBC reported.

There’s only two weeks left of the painkiller fentanyl, while three different types of antibiotics are already “out of stock”.

For now Dr Wijesuriya says he’s managing these shortages with substitutions. He remains optimistic that the government will find a way to get him what is needed for his patients.

Frontline doctors are far less upbeat. Many say they’ve been told by the government they can’t speak openly to the media about the situation, with only union representatives and hospital directors authorised to do so.

In a statement Sri Lanka’s government initially denied medicines were running out, even as doctors reported problems.

A day later the Department of Government Information issued a correction, admitting there is a shortage of some drugs and equipment.

Documents seen by the BBC, interviews with medical unions and testimony from frontline doctors reveal that hospitals across the nation are in desperate need of a range of life-saving drugs and equipment, according to BBC.

Medical staff have told the BBC the crunch in supplies has forced them to suspend non-essential operations, and reuse or ration some equipment.

Dr Nishan (not his real name) works at a cancer hospital in the Eastern province.

“In two weeks’ time we may have to stop most surgeries and only do emergencies,” he told me as he reeled off a list of essentials like IV fluids, paracetamol, and antibiotics that his team are struggling to get hold of.

“There may be a time when we have to even stop treating cancer patients,” he warned.

Dr Nishan is from an area hit hard by the country’s civil war. Working as a doctor in conflict has its many challenges, but this economic crisis comes with many others, BBC reported.

Three Covid-19 fatalities have been reported in Shanghai, the first to be officially counted since the beginning of the city’s lockdown, The Guardian reported.

The three people reported on Monday included two women aged 89 and 91, and a 91-year-old man, who also had underlying health conditions, and were reportedly unvaccinated. Shanghai municipal authorities said the three were admitted to hospital and became critically ill. They died on Sunday “after all efforts were made to rescue them”.

As of 5 April, more than 92 million Chinese people over 65, including 20.2 million over the age of 80, were not fully vaccinated.

The outbreak of the Omicron variant in the Chinese city of more than 24 million people, has so far infected at least 320,000 people since March. It is the worst outbreak in China since the beginning of the pandemic, but despite the high number of cases, zero deaths had been attributed to it. Media reporting has revealed numerous deaths of people after they contracted Covid-19, particularly among elderly people in care homes, but authorities have largely attributed them to the underlying health complaints and not counted them as pandemic fatalities, according to The Guardian.

At a press conference on Monday, Wu Qianyu, a first-level inspector of the municipal health commission, said the direct cause of death of the three people was their underlying conditions, suggesting authorities have markedly changed the way they attribute Covid-19 deaths.

Shanghai authorities reported 22,248 cases for Sunday, including 19,831 asymptomatic. Of the total cases, 1,414 were detected outside quarantine and isolation facilities – where all positive cases must be sent, except those requiring hospitalisation.

The city has suggested it will consider the outbreak contained when there are no new cases found outside quarantined buildings or areas. On Monday Reuters reported authorities had set a target to stop the spread of the virus outside the quarantine and isolation system by Wednesday, which would allow some easing of restrictions.

There has been widespread unrest among Shanghai residents who have complained of food shortages and overzealous enforcement of restrictions, and businesses reporting major impediments to production and supply. It has sparked rare mass online complaints and some protests, The Guardian reported.

While bulk of cases are still being reported in Shanghai, there are multiple outbreaks across China. On Friday the northwestern city of Xian announced a four-day period of curbs on the movement of its 13 million residents, including the closure of entertainment venues and restaurant dining, and bans on some transport leaving the city. Xian was also the site of long lockdowns in December in response to an outbreak of the Delta variant. In Suining, Jiangsin province, authorities have conducted mass testing of almost 900,000 workers, and suspended trains. On Sunday Jilin province lifted its lockdown, but urged continued caution and advised residents to ensure they had enough supplies on hand for one month if needed for a future lockdown, according to The Guardian.