Due to the growing number of cases of people being infected with the coronavirus the chief district officers of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have issued prohibitory orders which come into effect from April 29 (Thursday).
Like in the previous lockdown, both public and private vehicles will not be allowed to operate. Moreover, shops will also be allowed to open from 5 am to 10 am. However, vehicles dealing with emergency services will be allowed to operate.
The decision to impose the prohibitory order was taken today after the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) recommended the government to allow the concerned district authorities to impose a lockdown if the number of COVID-19 infections crosses 500. According to the CCMC, the authority to impose the lockdown would lie with the chief district officer of the concerned district in coordination with the District COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre.
The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) Sunday reported 3,032 new cases of coronavirus infection in the country. Additionally, 90 persons have tested positive for the virus in the Antigen test. Kathmandu district alone reported 1,132 cases on Sunday.
Meanwhile, there are talks ongoing that the lockdown could be imposed for two weeks.
Yogendra Nath Karmacharya, President, Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs said, "Any such step will hit the transportation sector really hard. We have still not been able to overcome the financial difficulties that we have been facing due to the previous lockdown." He said, "Another aspect that needs to be carefully looked into is whether airline companies will be allowed to conduct flights during the lockdown. If they are allowed then we should also be allowed to operate vehicles."
He argued, "It sounds like the coronavirus will spread only when people are travelling via road and not when they are travelling by air. If there is a total lockdown imposed for everybody then we will follow the directives."
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