KATHMANDU, Aug 29: A Secretariat meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) scheduled for Saturday has been deferred for next week as Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ishwar Pokharel and Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa are in home isolation after a staff at Covid-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC) is tested positive for the virus.
Sources close to Pokharel and Thapa said the decision to stay in home isolation was taken as a precautionary measure after a staff member who attended the CCMC meeting in Chhauni was diagnosed with the COVID-19 infection a few days ago. Both Pokharel and Thapa regularly attend the CCMC as key members of the body instituted by the government to ensure effective response for the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 patients in home isolation recovering faster than thos...
Sources said both Pokharel and Thapa have already undergone PCR tests to check if they have contracted the virus. They are likely to end their home isolation earlier if the PCR test shows them negative for the virus.
Both Pokharel and Thapa are members of the nine-member Secretariat body of the ruling NCP. The Secretariat meeting now scheduled for Thursday is expected to deliberate and endorse the report submitted earlier by a six-member taskforce headed by General Secretary Bishnu Paudel to save party unity.
This is the second time the Secretariat meeting of the ruling NCP has been deferred more recently. The Secretariat meeting was earlier deferred for Saturday as another senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal was in home isolation after nine security personnel including his driver were tested positive for the virus.
