Government unlikely to lift lockdown restrictions in Valley

Kathmandu, 5 May: It has been 43 days since the country is in lockdown and people are stuck in their home, yet the government is planning to extend lockdown with the threat of spreading coronavirus pandemic.

The meeting of the senior government officials held in the Home Ministry on 4 May has decided to classify all the districts into three zones – green, yellow and red. The meeting also decided to lift some lockdown restrictions in green and yellow zones, yet, to continue total lockdown strictly in the districts identified as red zones. On the case of the Kathmandu Valley, the officials are afraid to lift restrictions due to the fear of spreading coronavirus pandemic.

The government has failed to conduct mass level PCR test as demanded by medical experts without doing anything further, the government is planning to extend lockdown in the Valley. Also, the government has failed to stop arrival of people from other districts. Experts say, just extending lockdown without other precaution would not support controlling coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, officials of the Valley Municipality Forum, an umbrella organization of the municipalities in the Valley, called on DPM Ishwor Pokhrel demanding to lift some lockdown restrictions except from running educational institutions, hotels, restaurants, clubs, theaters and restricting gathering of people.

According to the Onlinekhabar online portal, the government is just thinking to extend lockdown in the Valley without doing other precaution works. The government has conducted PCR test on 735 people and RDT test on 3379 people only in the Valley. Considering the population in the Valley, the test conducted by the government is very low.

People’s News monitoring Service