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Nepal reported 14 new Covid-19 cases on Friday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 030 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 14 returned positive. Likewise, 873 people underwent antigen tests, of which no one were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 54 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 1, 438 active cases in the country.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, is arriving in Nepal on April 21.

He is arriving in Nepal at the invitation of the Ministry of Health and Population.

During his visit, the Director General is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

He will also hold separate meetings with Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka and Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada.

Police have arrested four persons on the charge of murdering Arjun Das of Kailali.

The Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) made public the four persons involved in the murder by organizing a press conference on Friday.

The detainees have been identified as Manoj Bhandari, Dilip Das, Sumit Saud and Bam Bahadur Bohara.

According to a preliminary investigation, they killed Das under the influence of drugs on December 18.

Police said that they first tied Das to a tree and cut off his head.

The arrestees have been sent to Kailali for further investigation.

They had been hiding in India after committing the crime. Police nabbed them when they had come to Bhairahawa.

Police have launched further investigation saying that other people may have been involved in the murder.

The daily tally of COVID-19 cases in Shanghai, which is at the centre of China's epidemic, has fallen slightly, authorities said on Friday, as the city's lockdown threatened to exact a heavier toll on the world's second-biggest economy, Reuters reported.

China's automakers may have to suspend production next month if suppliers in Shanghai and surrounding areas can't resume work, the chief executive officer of electric-car maker Xpeng 9868.HK said, while airlines and the property sector are also feeling the pain.

Shanghai, which is battling China's worst COVID-19 outbreak since the virus emerged in the city of Wuhan in late 2019, reported 23,000 COVID cases on Friday, down from more than 27,000 the day before.

However, the number of symptomatic cases in that tally edged up to a record 3,200, from the 2,573 reported a day earlier.

Officials releasing the data did not comment on the reason for the overall fall in the city, which has put most of its 25 million residents into lockdown.

China's efforts to stop the virus with a strict "zero-COVID" policy are triggering economic disruptions that are rippling through global supply chains for goods ranging from electric vehicles to iPhones, according to Reuters.

Xpeng chief executive officer He Xiaopeng issued a dire warning for his sector unless the situation improves.

"If the suppliers in Shanghai and its surrounding areas can't find a way to resume operations and production, in May possibly all of China's carmakers will have to stop production," He said on his Wechat social media feed.

An April 7 study by Gavekal Dragonomics found that 87 of China's 100 largest cities by gross domestic product have imposed some form of quarantine curbs.

COVID curbs have also devastated travel across the country, with carrier Air China 601111.SS reporting a 70% drop in March traffic from a year ago on Thursday.

Home prices stalled for a second month in a row in China's 70 major cities last month, according to official data released on Friday, as the lockdowns sapped consumer confidence and undermined demand. L2N2WD02F

China's State Council, or cabinet, said on Wednesday that more policy measures were needed to support the economy, but analysts are unsure if rate cuts would quickly reverse the slump as long as the government maintains its COVID policy, Reuters reported.

In Shanghai, locked down residents have vented frustration on social media over the difficulties in getting food and the rule that anyone testing positive, symptomatic or not, has to go into quarantine at state-run facilities, which many people have complained are in poor condition.

The city has converted residential buildings into quarantine centres but that's sparking protests from angry neighbours worried they are being put at increased risk of infection, according to Reuters.