Some countries that lifted lockdown early regretted their decisions later — Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli

Kathmandu, May 5

The government is likely to extend the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Member Secretary of the High-Level Coordination Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 Narayan Prasad Bidari told mediapersons after the committee meeting today that a Cabinet meeting scheduled for tomorrow would take a decision on the extension of the lockdown.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai told THT that a proposal was presented in the meeting today to categorise areas as green, orange and red, but the PM said it was not the right time to go for relaxation of lockdown on the basis of categorisation, as COViD- 19 cases continued to rise in India and in certain districts of Nepal bordering India. Oli told the meeting that some countries that lifted lockdown early regretted their decisions later and Nepal should avoid such a situation.

Bidari said the meeting reviewed measures taken to prevent the spread of the pandemic and the impact of the ongoing lockdown, but concluded that measures taken to control the spread of coronavirus thus far had been effective.

“All the measures taken so far have helped save lives and control the spread of the disease,” Bidari said.

The government had enforced the nationwide lockdown from March 24 to March 31 which

as later extended repeatedly. The last time the government had decided on April 26 to extend the lockdown till May 7.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 6, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.