Nepal govt plans to relax lockdown, restart economy

at 5:19 pm

New Delhi (NVI): The Nepal government plans to relax the nationwide lockdown to gradually restart the economy, according to local media reports.

The government has planned to divide 77 districts of the country into three categories of red, yellow and green, depending on population density, geography, linkage to international border and number of coronavirus cases, as per media reports.

The districts that will fall under yellow and green zones will see relaxation in restrictions, whereas areas categorised as red zones will continue to remain shut, it added.

The Nepal Ministry of Health and Population has started preparing modalities to ease the lockdown based on the instruction given by the High-Level Coordination Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 led by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel.

The government of Nepal enforced nationwide lockdown on March 24 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Since then, almost all economic activities have come to a halt, inflicting billions of rupees of losses on businesses and leaving many jobless.

So far, 59 people have been infected with coronavirus in Nepal, but no deaths.