KATHMANDU, JUNE 3

Hotels in five locations outside the valley have been selected to quarantine Nepalis returning from COVID-19 affected countries.

A meeting held on Tuesday at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has selected the hotels in Nagarkot, Dhulikhel, Pokhara, Chitwan and Bhairahawa.

The meeting was held between Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) and Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai who is also a chairperson of Quarantine Management Committee under the High-Level Coordination Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19.

As per the decision, returnees who can afford to foot their bills will be taken to quarantine hotels while those who cannot will be placed in the public quarantines in the areas as per their convenience.

Binayak Shah, first vice-president of HAN, had submitted the name list of the hotels to the minister. While the tourism minister had asked for around 10,000 beds, around 60,000 beds are ready for hotel quarantine, according to Shah.

As per him, people staying in tourist standard hotels will have to pay Rs 3,000 per night for single rooms, and Rs 2,000 per night for twin-sharing rooms. The hotels will be providing four meals a day. However, no decision has been taken regarding the star-rated hotels for quarantine.

As the government is preparing to bring back Nepalis from the COVID-19 affected countries, the Quarantine Management Committee has been coordinating with the HAN for rooms.

Revising its earlier plan to bring home around 25,000 Nepalis, the government is now gearing up to repatriate around 40,000 citizens. The government is bringing back Nepalis from different COV- ID-19 affected countries on priority basis.

Nepalis who want to return have to submit their health certificate and if they test positive for the virus, they will have to seek treatment in the country they are currently located.

Similarly, a second phase test will be conducted at the Tribhuvan International Airport and if any health issue is discovered , they will be directly taken to a hospital.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 4, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.