Schools across Kathmandu valley have resumed physical teaching-learning activities from today after a hiatus of around nine months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schools, industries, and traffic movement as a whole has been halted after the government imposed lockdown on March 24, 2020 in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Some schools and colleges had meanwhile opted for online as well as virtual classes to keep their students educated. Colleges, however, have not yet announced a date to resume physical classes.

Schools have adopted health safety protocols such as checking students’ and staffs’ body temperature before entry into their premises, providing hand sanitizers, making face masks as shields mandatory, installing hand-washing stations, among other things, in view of COVID-19.

The government in mid-November, 2020 had directed local governments to access and decide if schools can reopen based on COVID-19 spread and severity in respective areas. Hence, districts across the country have been gradually resuming physical classes at schools.

The sporadic reopening of schools could, however, affect teaching-learning activities as well as the academic session throughout the country.

Meanwhile, cinema halls have also officially resumed services since Thursday for the first time ever since they were shut due to the lockdown. Similarly, drama theaters have also reopened with the assurance to maintain physical distance among audiences.

As businesses gradually resume operation after a closure of nearly 10 months, market places and traffic movements are bustling with activity. The risk of COVID-19 infection still persists.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, the number of people that have died due to COVID-19 related complications stands at 1,959. The Ministry’s figures show that more than five people die due to the virus every day in Nepal.

Five people succumbed to the disease on Sunday alone. According to the Ministry’s data, 157 of the critically infected are being treated in ICU and 39 are in the care of ventilators as of Sunday.