Kathmandu, May 16

Chandragiri Municipality has been completely sealed for four days starting from 12:00pm today, following five confirmed COVID-19 cases. Nagdhunga checkpoint, the main entry point to Kathmandu valley, also lies in the municipality.

The municipality decided to this effect in a bid to stem the coronavirus pandemic. The municipality will remain sealed until May 20.

Vehicular and people’s movement, except for emergency situation, inside the local level has been banned. Vehicles carrying daily essentials will be allowed to ply the highway that passes through the local level. Such vehicles, however, will not be allowed to load and unload any goods inside the municipality.

Ghanashyam Giri, mayor of the municipality said they were forced to adopt stringent measure as most of the vehicles from across the country passed through the local level to enter Kathmandu valley. “We have, thus, put a ban on all kinds of movement inside the municipality,” he said, adding that in case of emergency situation, people would have to first inform about the problem to local representatives and maintain social distancing if they had to come out of their houses. All kinds of shops, offices, industries, construction works, except pharmacies and health care centres and hospitals will remain closed.

The municipality has also urged its locals to keep record of people staying in their homes as tenants. The local government has also said any tenant, who has recently returned from corona-hit areas but was avoiding self-isolation or quarantine, would be punished as per the new directives issued by the Ministry of Health and Population. The municipality has also asked house owners not to rent out their rooms until further notice.

Three children, all below 10 years of age, a 32-year-old male and a 33-year-old female from various places of the municipality such as Satungal, Dahachowk, Balambu and Machchhegaun have tested positive for COVID-19.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 17, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.