Food and vegetable shops inside Valley to be allowed to open everyday until 9:15 AM from Monday

Published On: August 23, 2020 08:00 PM NPT By: Santosh Ghimire | @journonepali

KATHMANDU, Aug 23: Food and vegetable shops inside the Kathmandu Valley will be allowed to open every day until 9:15 AM from Monday, officials said.

A meeting of the chief district officers of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur took a decision to this effect on Sunday to curb the spread of coronavirus, according to Assistant Chief District Officer of Kathmandu, Tulsiram Subedi.

The decision comes after the Valley reported 100 plus COVID-19 cases everyday in the past one week.

According to Subedi, the decision was taken to minimize the flow of consumers to the market so that the coronavirus transmission could be brought under control.

"We are aware of the increased flow of people in the market in the morning and evening, posing a risk of coronavirus transmission,” he said.

Kathmandu district recorded 126 new infections while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur reported 12 and 28 more cases, respectively.

The Valley started witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases since the government decided to lift the 120-day nationwide lockdown. However, the number has kept on increasing at an alarming rate of late.

According to the daily COVID-19 count released by the Ministry of Health and Population, more than 100 cases were recorded everyday in the past eight days.

As many as 172 people were diagnosed with this viral infection on Sunday, last week, followed by 168 and 205 on Monday and Tuesday. It was on Saturday that the Valley recorded the highest single-day spike of COVID-19 with 216 new infections while 159 cases were confirmed on Wednesday, the least in the past eight days.