COVID-19: Nepal extends lockdown by a week

Nepal on Sunday evening extended nation-wide lockdown for a week to prevent further spread of COVID-19 as the positive case in the country rose to five.

A cabinet meeting held at Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's residence Baluwatar in capital Kathmandu decided to extend lockdown by additional eight days until April 7. Earlier, last week, the government imposed nationwide lockdown which was set to end on 31st of this month.

A high-level Government Coordination Committee Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister IshwarPokhrel on Sunday afternoon recommended Oli-led administration to extend the lockdown.

"This war (against COVID-19) is not solely of central government or state mechanism, it is to be fought by people in collective way. It is a war against the protagonist of human civilization, prosperity and against the progress of human upliftment and development. To fight against it, unity amongst all is important, we all should go hand-in-hand. I request all the people from various backgrounds to come jointly against it," IshwarPokhrel, Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal said in a video statement.

The committee led on by Pokhrel on Sunday afternoon had made the decision to extend a ban on International flight till mid of April.

Nepal has been under complete lockdown from March 24, a day after a 19-year-old France returnee via Qatar tested positive with the COVID-19 virus.

Soon after the second infection, Nepal's confirmed case of COVID-19 infection rose to 5. As all the reported cases were imported, the government has made self-quarantine for people arriving from abroad mandatory. It also has mentioned that anyone disobeying the rule would be penalized as per the Infectious Disease Act.