The Nepal government has decided to extend the coronavirus lockdown by 11 days till 18 May, ignoring advice from some sectors to ease the closure in parts of the country where there have been no new cases for the past four weeks.
The move came as 17 new PCR positive cases in Parsa were detected today, and 23 new cases of community spread were detected this week in the border city of Nepalganj in the western plains, bringing the total number of positive coronavirus cases to 99.
Public health authorities were contact tracing people close to the asymptomatic but positive-tested cases and found that they had moved around the markets in Nepalganj for the past week.
The country has been in continuous lockdown since 24 March, with all flights, transport, factories and commerical establishments closed. However, it has been difficult for the security agencies to control the movement of people across the southern border with India, in the Tarai and in inner city markets.
There has also been an increase in members of Parliament hiring buses to send constituents from their home districts who were stuck in the cities. Reports that people were also entering Kathmandu by the busloads from hotspots like Udaypur and Nepalganj, have prompted the Valley’s mayors to propose sealing off Kathmandu from the rest of the country.
The COVID-19 Control and Management High-Level Committee on Tuesday had evaluated whether the lockdown could be partially lifted in some cities and districts, but Prime Minister K P Oli reportedly disagreed to have a red-orange-green designation like in India.
He appears to have decided to err on the side of caution after a community outbreak was detected in Nepalganj.
The security agencies are reported to have warned that even partial easing may make it more difficult for them to control the movement of people. MPs and officials are exerting political pressure to get permits to allow their people to move around the country.
Despite the lockdown, a total of 700 vehicles left Kathmandu and 500 entered the Valley on average every day last week. But on Monday and Tuesday, police forced back 139 vehicles trying to enter Kathmandu, and on Wednesday only ambulances and cargo trucks carrying essential products were allowed in.
India has extended its lockdown till 17 May, after a sharp rise in the number of positive cases and fatalities. Tuesday saw 111 COVID-19 deaths – the second consecutive day with more than 100 fatalities. Gujarat and Maharastra showed the steepest rises in positives, and there were 2,680 new cases detected nationwide. The total number of deaths in India is nearly 1,700 with 50,000 cases.
In Tuesday’s meeting, Prime Minister Oli is reported to have cited the rise in cases in India as the reason why the lockdown should be maintained.
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