JHAPA, AUGUST 8

Jhapa’s Mechinagar Municipality has imposed lockdown in certain parts of the municipality, citing threat of community spread of the coronavirus.

Following the signs of community spread of the virus, lockdown has been imposed in ward numbers 9 and 10 from midnight yesterday until further notice.

The decision was made at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Mayor Bimal Acharya and in the presence of Provincial Assembly member Gopalchandra Budhathoki and the representatives of various political parties. As per the decision industries, hotels and shops other than those dealing in food and vegetables and dairy firms will be closed.

Food and vegetable shops and diary firms will be allowed to remain open from 8:00am to 10:00am.

While pharmacies, health facilities and hospitals will operate as usual, a decision has been made to allow banks, finance companies and cooperatives to operate as usual by adopting safety measures.

In the meantime, preparations are said to be under way to collect swab samples from the family members of the infected persons and others, who might have come to their contact for PCR testing.

“All public activities will be stopped until the test reports of the swab samples are out to prevent the spread of the virus,” said Mayor Acharya. “As for now, the lockdown is imposed only in two wards. Further decisions will be taken on the basis of the test reports,” he said.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 9, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.