KATHMANDU – COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC), a high-level government agency formed to combat coronavirus, has concluded that resuming air service and long-distance transportation as decided earlier will be premature in the current situation.
The meeting of the CCMC held on Sunday evening decided to recommend the government to pause its decision to resume such services for at least 15 days. Air flights and long-distance transportation services were going to resume from August 17 after the government on July 21 decided to lift restrictions on the aviation and transportation services.
Following an assessment that the risk of rapid spread of coronavirus has not subsided, the CCMC decided to ask the government to reconsider its earlier decision to lift restrictions on those services for at least 15 days, according to a source at the center.
The cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday is likely to take the decision to this effect.
The CCMC meeting also decided to increase the isolation wards and quarantine facilities across the country in coordination with the local levels, said Secretary Mahendra Prasad Guragain at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers.
The center also expressed its worries about the public’s non-compliance to the safety measures and protocols issued by the government which could fuel the pandemic,said Guragain, urging all including the security personnel, health workers and industrialists to stay safe in view of increasing infection cases.
