Kathmandu, May 14

Traffic police today took control of 1,248 vehicles, plying the streets of Kathmandu valley defying the nationwide-lockdown imposed by the government in its bid to control the spread of COVID-19.

Of them 1,141 were two-wheelers and the remaining 107 were four-wheelers.

Traffic police personnel have stepped up action against traffic rule violators after the Ministry of Home Affairs recently scrapped all inter-district passes for vehicles. The ministry’s action comes in the wake of increased number of COVID-19 patients across the country in the last couple of days.

Senior Superintendent of Police Sushil Kumar Yadav, who is also the head of Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari, said security personnel were strictly implementing the rule to successfully enforce the lockdown.

Earlier, the government had eased the lockdown allowing various kinds of business houses, industries to partially open in the valley.

That resulted in a surge in the number of vehicles on valley roads. Coincidentally, the number of COVID-19 cases also spiked inside the valley and across the country.

Meanwhile, Nepal Police said it held 65 persons in Bhaktapur for walking on the street for no valid reason. Two new cases of COV- ID-19 had surfaced in the district yesterday.