Nepal Foreign Affairs (KATHMANDU, 11 April 2020) – Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Saturday held talks with the Chief Ministers of all seven states to make ongoing lockdown order more effective for the control of the coronavirus.
PM Oli talked to the Chief Ministers through video conferencing from the Action Room at Singha Durbar. On the occasion, Oli termed the ongoing efforts against COVID-19 as positive and stressed the need for moving ahead in a coordinated fashion. According to PM’s press advisor Surya Thapa, the PM said that the ongoing lockdown order will not end anytime soon and mobility along the border will be further restricted adding that negligence in the guise of sentimentalism was not acceptable.
“Ending the lockdown here while seeing rising number of infections in India cannot happen,” Thapa quoted the PM as saying. Furthermore, the PM refused the formation of a separate mechanism adding that the government itself was working by exercising its rights. The Prime Minister was of the view that the volunteers should work selflessly and they should seek no benefit out of the service.
He also raised concerns on administration’s carelessness during the lockdown and directed the administration and police to be cautious to prevent the gathering of people in the name of fairs. Saying that there was no option to maintaining physical distancing, the PM urged the citizens not to be swayed by unnecessary illusion and misinformation adding that the government was focused to work effectively.
Country’s health care sector will make qualitative stride and special progress will be achieved in laboratory, equipment and health materials, and management of the skilled human resources till the control of coronavirus infection in the country. During the four-hour-long meeting, the chief ministers shared their initiatives and steps taken for the control of the COVID-19 in their respective states.