Padlocks on shops and stores have started getting rusty. They tell the tale of what these businesses have gone through in the past six months of shut down

KATHMANDU, Sept 7: The rusty padlocks on shops in the New Road area of Kathmandu are a clear reflection of how hard the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the business sector in Nepal.

Nepal enforced lockdown for the first time on March 24 in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19.  All activities were restricted except emergencies during that period.

The government then lifted the lockdown after witnessing a slight downfall in the number of COVID-19 cases, allowing the markets and businesses to operate following health safety guidelines after three months. 

Then people in large numbers entered the Kathmandu Valley, which resulted in a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in the Valley turning it into one of the COVID-19 hotspots in Nepal.

The three local governments in the Valley then decided to enforce the prohibitory orders again, across the three districts in the Valley — Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.

Clearly, the business sector is one of the hardest hit sectors by the pandemic. Here are some pictures taken by Republica Photojournalist Monika Malla in the New Road area, Kathmandu on Monday afternoon:

 
• COVID-19
 
• Kathmandu
 
• Business_sector
 
• impacts