The government said on Saturday all international flights to Nepal will remain suspended until May 15.

The High-level Coordination Committee for Prevention and Control of Covid-19, led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel, took a decision to this effect on Saturday in view of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

“Today’s meeting has decided to continue with the suspension of both domestic and international flights which were suspended until April 30 for 15 more days,” said Narayan Bidari, member secretary of the committee.

Earlier on April 7, the government had decided to suspend all international flights to Nepal until April 30.

Before that, the government on March 20 had decided to suspend all international flights from March 22 to March 31. The suspension was later extended until April 15.

The committee, however, has not taken any decision on lockdown extension.

“The Cabinet will take a decision whether to extend the lockdown depending on the situation in Nepal, the southern neighbour and in different parts of the world,” Bidari told the Post. “The committee also thanked everyone concerned for successful implementation of the lockdown.”

The ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 is applicable until Monday–two more days.

Officials said a Cabinet meeting is likely on Sunday or Monday.

Since lockdown in India has been declared until May 3, there are speculations that Nepal too will extend lockdown at least for a week, given the 1,800-km-long porous border the two countries share.

Nepal so far has reported 49 Covid-19 cases. Eleven patients have been discharged after recovering.