Nepal extends Covid-19 lockdown in Kathmandu Valley till June 14

Nepal on Wednesday extended the lockdown in the Kathmandu Valley till June 14 due to the spike in Covid-19 cases.

A meeting of the chief district officers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur took the decision to extend the ongoing prohibitory orders till midnight of June 14, according to authorities.

This is the third time that the prohibitory orders have been extended in the Kathmandu Valley.

The meeting of the CDOs also decided to let groceries and book shops to remain open till 9 am and allow construction activities as well, said Prem Prasad Bhattarai, the chief district officer of Bhaktapur.

Similarly, only the offices providing emergency services will be allowed to remain open during this period. Banks will be allowed to open only three of their branch offices as previously decided.

The local authorities had enforced prohibitory orders in the Valley for the first time on April 29 for a week. The ongoing prohibitory period is scheduled to expire on June 3.

Meanwhile, Nepal recorded 5,316 new cases and 101 deaths related to Covid-19 on Wednesday. As many as 7,219 Covid-19 patients recovered across the country in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 1,01,993 active cases across the country. Likewise, the Kathmandu Valley recorded 1,456 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday. Of them, 969 were detected in Kathmandu, 306 in Lalitpur and 181 in Bhaktapur districts.

According to the latest data received from the Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal’s Covid-19 tally has reached 571,111.