KATHMANDU: Prime Minister KP Oli has asked for the stringent enforcement of lockdown and directed his officials to restrict the attempts of people opting for their home village.
Issuing his briefings to the Ministers at his Baluwatar based residence, the PM asked them to restrict the movement of outgoing people and ensure them food if they are outflowing due to starvation.
With the expansion of lockdown which now has gone longer than a month, people are found traveling for days on foot as they have nothing to eat in their rented rooms in the towns. Many of them were sarcastic about the government promises to the food as sometimes the relief they got after a weeklong hunt did not suffice for a couple of days.
Earlier, the Supreme Court has asked the government to work out some solutions for the people at the risk of death due to scarcity of food.
After the court’s order and the frequent criticism of the government for its failure to listen to the grievances of the daily wage earners and the tenants, PM has asked his Ministers to work aggressively to handle the issue. PM had called the Ministers to his residence for discussion on the issue.
The High-Level Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 had offered the PM two options ahead: arrange for the transportation of the people seeking to return their home in coordination with the local levels, or stop them where they are and make lockdown more strict.
Speaking on the options, PM Oli asked the Ministers not to be liberal on lockdown and ordered them to arrange for the food for the needy if they want to return home just for food.
He has instructed the High-Level Committee to coordinate with a member of parliaments of respective districts and local levels to make its task more effective.
He has asked to speed up the coronavirus tests.
According to the Ministry for Health and Population, there have been 7688 tests from the PCR method and 16,565 from the rapid diagnostic test method.
According to a Minister, the High-Level Committee has discussed making the tested number 100 thousand in a week from now.
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