KATHMANDU: Nepal is reeling under a lockdown for a second day on Wednesday, with the people ordered to stay home in an effort to stop the coronavirus pandemic from spreading.

The government’s decision on Monday evening came as infections surged in neighboring India and a 19-year-old girl who returned from France via Qatar was seen positive for coronavirus.

In Nepal, everything but essential services such as some grocery shops have been shuttered. Buses and other vehicles in Kathmandu have remained off the roads.

Streets, which remained busy during normal days, have been deserted and eerily silent with a trickle of pedestrians.

People have been told to stay indoors and not to come out of their houses except for emergency cases. With the lockdown taking effect from Tuesday, the Kathmandu Valley wears a deserted look.

Meanwhile, traffic police on Wednesday morning confiscated around 302 vehicles in Kathmandu on the charge of operating them defying the lockdown order.

The traffic police personnel deployed from the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD) confiscated the vehicles from different places of Kathmandu, said SP Jeevan Shrestha.

According to him, 33 vehicles were confiscated from the Kalimati area alone.

The vehicles confiscated on Wednesday will not be released anytime soon even though the MTPD had released vehicles confiscated on Tuesday – the first day of lockdown, SSP Bhim Prasad Dhakal, chief at the Division.

Meanwhile, police are seen interrogating even those coming out of the houses for emergency cases.