The govt has held a high level meeting in Singha Durbar to discuss Nepal’s plans and strategies to prevent/tackle a coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The meeting which was led by Ishwor Pokhrel (Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Defense of Nepal) was in attendance of several prominent personalities including Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, Finance Minister and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yubaraj Khatiwada.

The strategies, which include high level coordination between the federal, provincial and local government was also attended by the Chief Ministers of all 7 provinces of Nepal. Representatives of different government security organisations (Nepal Army, Armed Police Force and Nepal Police) were also present.

The meeting has yielded the following plans/strategies:

Control/Prevention Measures: 

  1. Restrict entry into Nepal
  2. Increase public awareness
  3. Arrange quarantine and monitoring spaces
  4. Work towards effective health care and management of facilties.

The action plan also further states that quarantine areas and ICU beds are to be increased in provincial hospitals. The government will also work towards increasing availability of face masks and sanitizers. Extra protective kits are also to be made available.

Furthermore, the government has also instructed all Chief District Officers, security chiefs and health officers to not leave their designated districts.

At 5:15 pm (Nepal Time), Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli will be partaking in a video conference which includes all members of SAARC – the video conference will discuss a joint strategy to fight the coronavirus outbreak.