Lockdown extended again in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley

The authorities in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley on Tuesday decided to extend the ongoing lockdown till Aug. 24, and during the period vehicles would be banned from plying after 8:00 p.m. with the exception of those in emergency services.

The Lalitpur, Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts in the valley are seeking to reverse some relaxation in the restrictive measures by asking people traveling on private and public vehicles to reach their destinations by 8:00 p.m. from Thursday, as the current round of lockdown expires at midnight Wednesday.

"The main reason behind fixing the deadline for reaching the destinations for people is to discourage them from assembling at restaurants in the nighttime as such behavior is risky," said Dhundi Prasad Niraula, chief district officer of the Lalitpur district.

Restaurants are allowed to open till 7:00 p.m. with takeaway or home delivery services under lockdown, while many are serving customers inside, and the police have been deployed against such non-compliance.

In the face of resurgent COVID-19 cases, the authorities in the Kathmandu Valley have since last week urged people to reduce mass gatherings and wear a mask.

As new cases started to come down from early June, the restrictive measures enforced since late April were eased in parallel with the lockdown being extended time and again.

On Tuesday, Nepal reported 3,194 new infections and 35 more deaths, taking the total cases to 720,680 and the death toll to 10,150, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.

On Aug. 7, Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba warned of a third wave of the coronavirus and asked people not to venture out unless "extremely necessary."