The government has decided to impose a nation-wide lockdown from tomorrow, 24 March, 6:00 am onwards for a week till 31 March.
The decision was made at a meeting of High-Level Coordination Committee for COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ishwar Pokhrel.
Domestic flights will also be closed for a week to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus as another case of COVID-19 was reported in Nepal today.
All other services, excluding essential ones such as security, hospitals, grocery, drinking water, media and information sectors as well as waste management among others will be stopped.
Directive from the government:
- Don’t leave the house until it’s something very important such as buying groceries and medicines.
- Only authorized vehicles, health workers’ vehicles and vehicles of security personnel will be allowed to run. Personal vehicles and public transportations will not be allowed.
- All domestic flights will be halted except security force and other authorized flights.
- Only necessary employees of all sectors except very essential services such as health sectors, security, food products, drinking water, milk, electricity, communication, notice boards, tax, quarantine, waste management should be kept at work with arrangement for them to be at office at the time when required.
- All private sectors except medicines and health equipment, food products, drinking water, milk, fuel production should arrange leave for their daily wage workers.
- Daily need of medicines and medical equipment should be fulfilled by companies. Anyone creating artificial shortage of daily goods, hoarding goods and selling daily essentials at high price or at black market will be punished as per the law, their goods will be seized and will be used in prevention and control of COVID-19.
- According to section 2, sub-section 2 in the Infectious Disease Act, 2020, Chief District Officers across the country will have the permission to arrange the needed managemnt to implement this directive and for that the Local Administration Act, 2028 can also be used as per the need.
- People defying the driectives issued under Infectious Diseases Act, 2020 or those hindering the implementatin of the directives will be punished as per the Act.
