Chitwan, March 13

Amidst heightened fear of the coronavirus, Chitwan’s Bharatpur metropolis has formed a committee to launch necessary preventive and precautionary measures against the pandemic.

Novel Coronavirus Prevention and Preparation Coordination Committee, formed by an all-party meeting convened here today, has Mayor Renu Dahal as its coordinator with her deputy, chief administrative officer, ward chairpersons and executive members as members and Metropolis Public Health Promotion Section coordinator as member-secretary.

The meeting decided to urge the wards of the metropolis to set up coordination committee at the local levels and launch awareness drive against the virus, while the decision to form a taskforce to carry out preparatory work to prevent the coronavirus scare has also been taken. “We’ve also decided that isolation wards be set up at both government and private hospitals inside the metropolis,” said Mayor Dahal.

The metropolis has decided to close schools here from March 18. The closure will be in effect until another notice. Places like shopping mall and cinema hall were urged to close business for time being.