The COVID-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC) has decided to recommend the government not to resume aviation services and long-distance public transport from August 17.

A meeting of CCMC held on Sunday decided to ask the government to postpone its earlier decision by 15 days keeping in mind an alarming surge of COVID-19 cases in various parts of the country, including the Kathmandu Valley after the government announced an official end to the lockdown 120 days after it was first enforced on March 24.

A formal decision to this effect will be made through a cabinet meeting scheduled for today.

The government on July 21 had announced to resume these services from August 17. As per the decision, long-distance public transportation services, domestic and international flights, training sessions and preliminary stages of international games, student admission, academic and other examinations would resume from August 17.

Sunday’s CCMC meeting also decided to ask Banks and Financial Institutions (BFIs) to make necessary arrangements to call only 50 percent of their employees and schedule their work in shifts for seven or 15 days.

It also decided to ask the government to tighten cross-border movement in view of the possible spread of COVID-19 and to cut down the designated entry points to 10 from the existing 20.

The meeting also decided to make necessary arrangements to develop additional isolation and quarantine centers in coordination with the local governments to accommodate the increasing number of COVID-19 patients.

With 380 new cases reported on Sunday, Nepal’s COVID-19 total stands at 22,900 with 75 deaths so far.