Govt urged to act on war footing against Coronavirus

Kathmandu: Major political party leaders present in the parliament have called upon the government to act on a war footing against Coronvarus to curb the outbreak of this lethal disease which has become a global threat to humanity at the moment.

The party leaders speaking during an all-party meeting held at the Prime Minister’s residence at Baluwatar Wednesday said that the government should act on a war footing to step up for quarantine measures for people arriving in Nepal from the COVID-19 infected countries.

The leaders urged the government to take necessary preventive measures to grapple with the insidious effect of Coronavirus in the country in the case of its outbreak.

Nepal has been allowing people coming from other countries to enter on submission of health certificates at the airport, yet has not been able to arrange a separate quarantine system for all those arriving in Nepal.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel led a high-level coordination committee on Coronavirus prevention called the meeting to collect the political leaders’ feedback. The meeting also discussed the economic package to grapple with the sinister effects of COVID-19.

The lethal epidemic Coronavirus known as COVID-19 which spread from mainland China has already claimed the lives of over 4,000 people globally with maximum deaths in China only and around 113,000 people (in more than 100 countries) being infected around the world by now.

COVID-19 has insidiously affected tourism worldwide, including Nepal. Uncertainty still looms large over Nepal as World Health Organizations (WHO) declared Nepal to be one of the high-risk countries for COVID-19 and Nepal continues to scramble for preventive measures with limited resources.