Saturday, June 6, 2020

Government lists out hotels available for quarantine

The government has listed some 47 hotels – in the first phase – in Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, Chitwan and Rupandehi that are available for quarantine service for migrant worker returnees, who will be evacuated from abroad starting from yesterday.
Yesterday, some 26 Nepalis have been evacuated from Myanmar, and some 168 Nepalis from UAE in a chartered flight of Air Arabia. They have been transported to holding centres – managed by the Nepal Army (NA) – before they travel back to home their districts. About 20 holding centres have been set up in Kathmandu for returning Nepalis and are designated province-wise. The passengers will stay there for 2 to 3 days awaiting results of their PCR tests, and will then be taken by bus to their home province for further quarantine and self-isolation. Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) has offered the hotels for quarantine.
However, there is a confusion as the Kathmandu District Administration Office (DAO) – under the Ministry of Home Affairs – published the list of hotels in Kathmandu Valley available for quarantine service public yesterday, according to the HAN. “We have provided the list of hotels including star, tourist standard and deluxe resorts in the Kathmandu Valley, Chitwan, Rupandehi and Pokhara, but the Kathmandu CDO yesterday published the notice of hotels in Kathmandu Valley only,” complained HAN representatives.
HAN had provided the Kathmandu district office with the preliminary list of hotels willing to provide their space to be used as quarantine facilities. “There is no coordination among the Covid-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC) that acts as the secretariat of the high-level coordination committee led by deputy prime minister and defence minister Ishwor Pokharel, and chief district offices,” the HAN said, adding that they will hold talks tomorrow on the issue with them. “HAN will also update the list as more hotels will come forward to offer this service in the future.”
Star hotels like Grand Hotel, Swiss International, Hotel Sarowar, Airport Hotel, Hotel Baishali, Summit Residency Hotel, Hotel Marsyangdi, Platinum Hotel, Hotel Manang, Hotel Landmark, Hotel Moonlight, Hotel Sabrina, Hotel Landmark, Hotel Kamal are available in Kathmandu and Pokhara for quarantining the Nepali returnees. The tourist standard hotels including CG Group of Hotels, Vivanta Kathmandu, Lapha Hotel, Hotel Readers Inn, Hotel Everest Mount Holiday, Mirage Lords Inn, Hotel Yambu, Hotel Family Home, Shiva Shankar Hotel, Hotel River, Landmark Forest Park in Kathmandu and Chitwan have also offered their services for the returnee Nepalis.
Likewise, Dreamland Gold Resort at Rupandehi and Park Village in Kathmandu are also available for the quarantine service. The rate of the hotel rooms starts from Rs 2,000 inclusive of four meals a day and the rate can vary depending on the grading of the hotels.
The government has started evacuating migrant Nepali workers from yesterday. The government has made it mandatory for the migrant Nepalis to be quarantined once they reach Nepal. Those who want to and are able to afford the hotel arrangements can use the available hotels for their quarantine, according to the CCMC.
HAN offered their help as the hotels across the country remain shut – from March 24 onwards – due to lockdown because of the Covid-19 outbreak across the world. The travel restrictions imposed across the country have also affected the hotel industry.

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