Saturday, April 11, 2020

Lockdown not to end anytime soon

Though, the country is losing more than Rs 2 billion a day due to lockdown, the government is mulling to contain the pandemic Covid19 – popularly known as coronavirus – by extending the shutdown.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli – in the video conference held today with the chief ministers of the seven provinces – said that the lockdown measures will not be lifted immediately unless the situation goes back to normal in India.
Discussing issues related to prevention of Covid19 and effective implementation of lockdown with the chief ministers, the Prime Minister also informed that that border security will be tightened further, PM Oli’s press advisor Surya Thapa said quoting the PM. “It is insignificant to open the borders now as infections are increasing in India lately,” he is said to be quoted. “There is no better mechanism right now than what the government has adopted.”
Though, the Prime Minister did not disclose how long the extension would be for, it seems far-fetched as India has witnessed rising coronavirus cases lately. “There is no point in becoming emotional about lifting the lockdown,” said the Prime Minister also requesting the chief ministers to regulate the functions properly, in the time of crisis.
In the process of containing the virus, the country will have accomplished outstanding progress in the fields of health, treatment, laboratory, equipment and health supplies, as well as skilled human resource management, he added. Nepal has the poorest public health system and the countries with better public health system are also falling prey to the deadly virus.
PM Oli, on the occasion, also stressed the need to step up strong coordination between the federal government and the provincial governments to contain the novel coronavirus in the days to come.
On the occasion, the chief ministers briefed the Premier about the ongoing efforts in their provinces to prevent and control the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, Nepal has nine coronavirus cases, of which one has already returned home after being treated. There has been not a single case of coronavirus in last one week, according to the Health Ministry. However, Nepal has entered into second phase as one case has been identified with local transmission, though all the seven cases were the migrants, who had returned from abroad.
The chief ministers of Province 1 Sher Dhan Rai, Province 2 Lal Babu Raut, Bagmat Province Dormani Poudel, Gandaki Province Prithvi Subba Gurung, Province 5 Shanker Pokharel, Karnali Province Mahendra Shahi and Sudurpaschim Province Trilochan Bhatta briefed the prime minister they have been doing to contain the deadly virus. The four-hour-long conference witnessed experience sharing on controlling the virus, necessary treatments, and efforts made of each province.
Province 2 chief minister Lal Babu Raut, after the video conference, said that the Province 2 is more conscious about the deadly virus as it has the largest number of migrants and also the only province to share border with India.

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