By Sharachchandra Bhandary
Amid growing concerns of the spread of coronavirus, the government has decided to cancel all promotional programs of Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, Sagarmatha Sambaad and other major international events and it is also mulling to suspend flight operation from various countries that have reported cases of coronavirus.
The government has also issued a travel advisory to all Nepalis, urging them not to go abroad unless it is very urgent.The government’s announcement comes as a part of precaution measures against COVID-19 after the WHO enlisted Nepal in a high-risk zone of coronavirus pneumonia outbreak.
The government has also formed a team led by secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Minister, Narayan Bidari, to monitor the situation and take appropriate measures on the ground to prevent its spread in Nepal.The new team has been formed in addition to the High Level Committee formed under the Prime Minister K P Oli to take precautionary measures against the possible spread of coronavirus. The committee comprises of ministers from various key ministries including Home, Defense, Finance, Foreign, Health, Tourism, Industry, Agriculture and Education.
The government has requested the citizens not to go abroad for studies, trips, entertainment and even for overseas jobs except in the case of top priority. It has also decided not to issue ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) for now to the outgoing students. As part of the precaution measures, the government has also appealed to the citizens to have limited gatherings in the social functions like marriage, Bratabandha and others, and not to stay for long in the gatherings, conferences and crowds. Asking the commoners to stay safe and alert, the government has asked the people to wear protective face masks.
The government has also arranged 100 isolation beds in various hospitals in Kathmandu and directed provincial hospitals to make necessary arrangements to have isolation wards as precautionary measures.All the incoming passengers will now need to submit a health card to the concerned government authorities in Nepal to prove that they are not tested positive for coronavirus.
A high-level taskforce under the chair of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ishwar Pokhrel has been formed and that has been coordinating with rest of the agencies for precautions and managerial tasks against the coronavirus pneumonia. Nepali diplomatic missions and Consul Generals abroad have been directed to work round the clock for rescue and coordination and remain alert against the coronavirus.
The government today decided not to grant on-arrival visa to tourists coming from the virus-affected countries. The decision comes into effect from March 10, according to Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali. According to him, Former Foreign Minister Mahendra Bahadur Pandey has been recommended as Ambassador of Nepal to China. The cabinet meeting on Sunday took the decision. It was decided to appoint a high-level political figure in place of a former administrator.The government has also announced a global tender for printing of Machine Readable Passports (MRP)as the stock of MRP is going out of stock.
Meanwhile, Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun has decided not to attend any public events considering the risk of COVID-19. The Vice-president has directed his private secretariat to postpone any confirmed programmes and not agree to any invitations for the same.He will not attend any public programmes until the government makes a public announcement about minimization of possible risk of the coronavirus and normalization of the situation. The Vice-president has also urged one and all to support the government’s control measures and not panic.
People’s News Monitoring Service
