KATHMANDU: With the increasing cases of new variants of COVID-19, the Nepal government has empowered chief district officers (CDOs) for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 in the country.

A cabinet meeting has decided to entrust the CDOs of the respective districts to impose prohibitory orders at their own discretion in case the COVID-19 cases spread.

Last year, the federal government itself had taken the initiative in imposing lockdown when the COVID-19 cases took a foothold in the country.

Subsequently, the cabinet decided to entrust local units to impose lockdown in coordination with the provincial governments in certain areas hit by the pandemic.

This time, the government has empowered CDOs to impose the prohibitory orders after new variants of COVID-19 spread unprecedentedly, of late.

Earlier, a meeting of the COVID-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC) held on Sunday had proposed to impose prohibitory orders in urban districts with 500 COVID-19 cases and in hilly districts with 200 cases.

Currently, prohibitory orders have been imposed in 14 districts of the country including the Kathmandu Vally.

All the examinations have been postponed on the recommendation of the CCMC.