Applied Science And Technology AnnAlS Volume 1. Number 1. ISSN:

Published by Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST)

Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

coVid – 19 SpeciAl iSSue

ASTA

An official Journal of Research Centre for Applied Science and Technology

Applied Science and Technology Annals Volume 1. Special Issue 1. June 2020.

RESEARCH ARTICLES Geospatial mapping of COVID-19 cases, risk and agriculture hotspots in decision- 1-8 making of lockdown relaxation in Nepal Bijaya Maharjan, Alina Maharjan, Shanker Dhakal, Manash Gadtaula, Sunil Babu Shrestha, Rameshwar Adhikari Situation analysis of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) cases in Nepal 9-14 Kiran Paudel, Prashamsa Bhandari,Yadav Prasad Joshi Epidemiological trend of COVID-19 in Nepal and the importance of social distancing 15-25 to contain the virus Amod K. Pokhrel,Yadav P. Joshi, Sopnil Bhattarai Agriculture is a panacea in all emergencies 26-33 Govinda Rizal, Shanta Karki, Kishor Dahal Diversity and prevalence of gut parasites in urban macaques 34-41 Bikram Sapkota, Roshan Babu Adhikari, Ganga Ram Regmi, Bishnu Parsad Bhattarai, Tirth Raj Ghimire Tracking and time series scenario of coronavirus: Nepal case 43-47 Purna Man Shrestha, Rupesh Tha, Dinesh Neupane, Kamal Adhikari, Dinesh Raj Bhuju SHORT COMMUNICATION Innovating local respirator masks at low resource setting for front line COVID-19 combating 48-50 health professionals R. Adhikari, G. Das, L. Khatiwada, S. Khatiwada, T. Hyomo-Lama, S. Shrestha D. Subedi, S. Vaidya, M. N. Wagley REVIEW ARTICLES Trend of COVID-19 cases and health sector response in Nepal 51-57 Meghnath Dhimal, Tamanna Neupane, Samir Kumar Adhikari, Pradip Gyanwali How should Nepal apply lock-down exit strategy against rising COVID-19 burden in 58-62 Nepal? Sujan Babu Marahatta, Anita Mahotra, Neeta Aryal Quest for COVID-19 cure: integrating traditional herbal medicines in the modern 63-71 drug paradigm Prativa Pandey, Angisha Basnet, Aatish Mali COVID-19: Ayurveda Treatment Protocol of Government of Nepal and India: 72-80 A Review and Perspective Ram Deo Pandit, Rakesh Kumar Singh Mushroom: a potent source of natural antiviral drugs 81-91 Jay Kant Raut Current scenario of COVID-19 pandemics in the top ten worst-affected countries 92-97 based on total cases, recovery, and death cases Sagar Regmi, Komal Prasad Malla, Rameshwar Adhikari

THEMATIC OPINIONS: SCIENCE AND SOCIETY Contextual learning: rethinking education for Nepal in the wake of COVID-19 crisis 99-112 Neel Kamal Chapagain, Usha Neupane Waste management scheme and way forward for during and post COVID-19 113-118 Rabindra Prasad Dhakal Impacts of COVID-19 on Nepalese economy 119-121 Satis Devkota Veterinary medicine as the core of the One Health approach for Nepal's preparedness 122-130 to pandemics like COVID-19 Krishna Kaphle Psycho-social perspective of COVID-19 in Nepal 131-135 Sharmila Maharjan Past pandemics and their parallel situation in Nepal 136-141 Jiba Raj Pokharel Options for teaching-learning and research in higher education: coping strategies for 142-148 environmental science studies during COVID-19 pandemic Ramesh Prasad Sapkota, Kedar Rijal THEMATIC OPINIONS: EMERGING TRENDS Canine distemper virus (CDV): an emerging threat to Nepal’s wildlife 149-154 Roshan Babu Adhikari, Mina Shrestha, Ganesh Puri, Ganga Ram Regmi, Tirth Raj Ghimire Nanomaterials for diagnostic, treatment and prevention of COVID-19 155-164 Subash Adhikari, Usha Adhikari, Akash Mishra, Bhim Sagar Guragain Landscapes of an ideal COVID-19 vaccine 165-168 Tirth Raj Ghimire Green economy in post COVID-19 scenario: Nepalese perspective 169-172 Madan Koirala Acute kidney injury associated with COVID-19: understanding its underlying 173-175 mechanism Samir Singh Biomimetic nanovaccines for COVID-19 176-182 Bijay Singh Lesson from COVID-19: restructuring the current health system and policies in Nepal 183-186 Madhusudan Subedi, Prativa Subedi INNOVATION REPORTS COVID-19 Pandemic: Opportunities and Challenges for Microbiologists in Nepal (187-190) Megha Raj Banjara1, Komal Raj Rijal, Dev Raj Joshi RAN Sister Robots - Food and Medicine Carrying Robot (191-194) Bikash Gurung RECAST: No Locked; No Down! (195-198) Rameshwar Adhikari National Innovation Centre: A Reliable Friend to Fight COVID-19 Pandemic (199-202) Sunil Baniya, Dinesh Raj Bhuju, Rameshwar Adhikari ORION Space for the combat of COVID 19 (203-206) Saurav Paudel, Jiten Thapa, Rajesh Dhusu, Rakesh Chandra Prajapati

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ASTA COVID-19 Special Issue Reviewer Panel [1] Purna Bahadur Ale, Third Pole Conservancy, Bhaktapur, Nepal.

[2] Prof. Keshav Prasad Adhikari, Institute of Agricuture and Animal Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

[3] Dr. Bipin Adhikari, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

[4] Dr. Raju Adhikari, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

[5] Dr. Patik Adhikary, Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS), Nepal.

[6] Dr. Prem Bahadur Budha, Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[7] Dr. Meghraj Banjara, Central Department of Microbiology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[8] Dr. Dinesh Raj Bhuju, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, Lalitpur, Nepal.

[9] Dr. Kishor Dahal, Institute of Agricuture and Animal Sciences, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

[10] Dr. Yashad Dongol, The University of Queensland, Australia.

[11] Dr. Meghnath Dhimal, National Health Research Council (NHRC), Kathmandu, Nepal.

[12] Dr. Shanker Dhakal, Nepal Academy of science and Technology (NAST), Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal.

[13] Dr. Sven Henning, Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems, Halle, Germany.

[14] Prof. Dr. Falk Huettmann, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA.

[15] Anwita Jha, Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[16] Dikpal Karmacharya, Third Pole Conservancy, Bhaktapur, Nepal.

[17] Dr. Mahesh KC, Center for Vaccines and Immunity, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

[18] Dr. Niranjan Koirala, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China.

[19] Rinzin P. Lama, Third Pole Conservancy, Bhaktapur, Nepal.

[20] Prof. Dr. Sujan B. Marahatta, Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[21] Dr. Bhanu Neupane, Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[22] Prof. Bijaya Pant, Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[23] Dr. Prativa Pandey, Catalayst Technology, Lalitpur, Nepal.

[24] Dr. Niranjan Parajuli, Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[25] Dr. Balmukunda Regmi, Institute of Medicine, Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[26] Prof. M. L. Sharma, Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[27] Dr. Bhushan Shrestha, Central Department of Biotechnology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[28] Dr. Nabeen K. Shrestha, Department of Energy, Materials and Engineering, Dongguk University, South Korea.

[29] Dr. Niranjan Shrestha, School of Health and Allied Sciences, Pokhara University, Kaski, Nepal.

[30] Prof. Madhusudan Subedi, Patan Academy of Sciences, Lalipur, Nepal.

[31] Dr. Tej Bahadur Thapa, Central Department of Zoology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[32] Dr. Giri Raj Tripathi, Central Department of Biotechnology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[33] Dr. Reshma Tuladhar, Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

[34] Dr. Suresh Subedi, Central Department of Biotechnology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. [35] Dr. Bijendra Raj Raghubanshi, Dept. of Microbiology, KIST Medical College, Nepal.

ASTA COVID-19 Special Issue Editorial Team CHIEF EDITOR Prof. Dr. Rameshwar ADHIKARI (Materials Science, Nanotechnology) Studied Chemistry in Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu; graduated from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; Fellow of IUPAC and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; recipient of POLYCHAR International Materials Science Prize & Technology Award of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology; (co-)author of 140+ research papers in peer reviewed journals and 8 books; (co-)guided 15 PhD researchers (6 completed), served as visiting Professor at Rouen University (France), Mahatma Gandhi University (India), and Kyoto Institute of Technology (Japan); currently – Executive Director at RECAST/TU. SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORS

Dr. Tirth Raj GHIMIRE (Drugs, Vaccines, Diseases) Completed MSc in Zoology (Parasitology) from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu; worked in the University of Glasgow and University of Strathclyde in UK for his PhD in Immunology; working as a Scientific Officer (Zoologist) since 2015 at Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal; research interests: Immunology, parasitology, and ethnopharmacology.

Dr. Bishnu P. MARASINI (Drug Discovery, Bioassay, Medicinal Plants) Studied MSc in Microbiology from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu and PhD in Molecular Medicine from University of Karachi, Pakistan; working as Head at Department of Biotechnology in National College of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal; research interests: Drug Discovery through the study of enzyme inhibition and kinetics, Antibacterial Activity, Bioinformatics as well as Medicinal Plants. Moreover, he is a blogger and Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Science (print 2594-3599 online 2467-9151).

Dr. Sagar REGMI (Biomedical Physics) Sagar Regmi completed MSc (Physics) with first rank from University of Pune, India in 2013. He did PhD in Physics from School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore in 2019 with Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) fellowship. He is currently working as Postdoctoral Fellow in Research Center for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST), Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal; research areas: mechanobiology and regenerative medicine, tumor biology, bionanotechnology, biomaterials, micro/nano-biomedicine, and targeted drug delivery.

Prof. Dr. Meena RAJBHANDARI (Natural products chemistry) Studied Chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu; worked in the University of Greifswald, Germany for PhD in Natural Product chemistry/pharmacology with the DAAD scholarship; working at Research Center for Applied Science and Technology since 1993; research areas: Phytochemistry/pharmacology that include screening of Nepalese medicinal plant extracts used in traditional medicine for antibacterial, antiviral, cytotoxicity, wound healing and isolation of active natural compounds.

Prof. Dr. Nilam SHRESTHA PRADHAN (Physics) Nilam Shrestha Pradhan, is the first woman professor in physics, has almost three decades of teaching experience and currently a faculty member of Research Center for Applied Science and Technology (RECAST), Tribhuvan University. She specializes in Solid State Physics with a focus on Atomic and Molecular Physics, and holds a PhD degree from TU. She has supervised many project works and Master theses and more than 2 dozens of papers have been published in national and international journals. Dr. Sabina SHRESTHA (Life Sciences) Completed MSc in Botany from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu; worked in the Graduate School of Biotechnology, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, South Korea for PhD in Biotechnology. Served as Post-Doctoral Fellow in Kyung Hee University and Jeju National University; contributed 45 research papers in peer reviewed journals and 3 books as (co-)author; working as a Director at Himalayan Biome Research Institute, Kathmandu since 2016 and as Guest Scientist at RECAST/TU since 2019; research interests: biodiversity and phytochemistry.

Dr. Santosh THAPA (Microbiology, Infectious Diseases) Studied Medical Microbiology in Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu; obtained PhD in Biomedical Sciences from University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, Texas, USA; postdoctoral study at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, USA; 7+ years teaching; organized many workshops, and conferences including “International Conference on Infectious Diseases and Nanomedicine (ICIDN); edited several Conference Proceedings, Abstracts, Books, and 3 volumes of Springer’s book series “Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology”; research interests: infectious diseases, microbial genetics, microbiomes, clinical metagenomics, bioinformatics.