KATHMANDU: Nepal has suspended all international flights for 10 days starting from Sunday.

Prime Minister KP Oli, during his address to the nation on Friday, had announced the closure of all international flights from March 22 to March 31 and barring entry of all foreigners over COVID-19 fear.

The suspension will only impact the arrival of passenger flights but not departing passenger flight from Nepal, freighter flight, rescue and air ambulance flight and other emergency flight.

The only international airport had been witnessing some 90 takeoffs and landings in a single day.

Borders with India yet to be sealed

Nepal is yet to take a decision on sealing border entry points with India.

There has been a surge in the number of Nepalis returning from India through different borders points after COVID-19 cases started surfacing in the southern neighbor.

With the spike in the number of people at entry points, screening for COVID-19 has been a tough nut to crack.

A meeting of the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Coordination Committee led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense on Saturday was expected to come with a decision on closing border points.

But, the meeting decided to strictly implement the announcement made by the Prime Minister.