A man checks a booth that will help health workers to test coronavirus infected patients, in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, April 7, 2020. Nepal has extended the nationwide lockdown by eight days till April 15 and started rapid tests in the country amid the spread of COVID-19. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)
KATHMANDU, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Nepal has extended the nationwide lockdown by eight days till April 15 and started rapid tests in the country amid the spread of COVID-19.
The cabinet meeting held on Monday afternoon made the decision to extend the lockdown until midnight of April 15.
"The period has been extended by eight days from tomorrow," a source close to the Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli told Xinhua on Monday.
Nepal has been under lockdown since March 24 in the first phase and later the date was extended by a week to April 7.
With the confirmation of first locally transmitted case in the country, the government has tightened the lockdown and prevented human movement from one province to another, one district to another and even from one local level to another local level. People have been instructed to stay home and only essential services are in operation.
The country has suspended all domestic and international flights until April 15.
Meanwhile, Nepal is set to carry out rapid diagnostic test (RDT) in Kailali, Kanchanpur and Baglung districts from where the recent COVID-19 diagnosed people hailed.
Speaking at a daily live press briefing on Monday, Bikash Devkota, spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) said that a team of MoHP and Department of Health Services has left for the designated locations for RDT and the test will probably start from Monday.
Nepal has confirmed nine COVID-19 cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Population. One patient has already recovered and rest of them have been receiving medical treatment in isolation. A total of 1,697 tests have been done so far at the National Public Health Laboratory.
