Amid mounting challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Home Affairs has directed all chief district officers and district security chiefs not to leave their respective districts during the festival.

The ministry instructions come in view of the possible spread of the virus during the festival season of Dashain, Tihar and Chhath which will end on November 20.

Home Ministry spokesperson Chakra Bahadur Buda told the Post that district administration offices can ban vehicular movement from one district to another if active coronavirus cases in any district cross the 200 mark.

If active cases surpass 500, the local administration offices can suspend services of various government offices and seal off certain areas, according to the ministry circular to chief district officers.

“We do not have a policy of imposing prohibitory orders in districts because people have to move from one place to another during the festive season. But if the situation in any district goes out of control, the local authorities can take their own measures,” said Buda.

After the government failed to handle the Covid-19 cases, on August 18 it granted discretionary powers to chief district officers to impose prohibitory orders or even a curfew in their respective districts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

A recent Cabinet meeting also authorised the chief district offices to issue prohibitory orders in districts with more than 500 active Covid-19 cases. According to the Health Ministry, as of Monday there are 11 districts with more than 500 active cases including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur.

The total number of active cases across the country stands at 40,778, as of Monday with 136,036 infected with the virus so far. The death toll is 757.

While reading out the Cabinet decisions, Minister for Communication and Information Technology Parbat Gurung said on Monday that chief district officers are also authorised to suspend any services inside the district and manage, control and regulate vehicular movements from one district to another if active Covid cases surpasses 200 marks.

With the government’s decision, some local administrations have imposed area wise prohibitory orders.

According to one senior official of the Home Ministry, it was not a wise move to impose curfew or prohibitory order during the festive time but some strict restrictive measures will be adopted after Dashin if Covid cases continues to rise.

Some partial restrictive measures will be applied up to Chhat, the senior official said, if active Covid cases continue to surge, with the local administrations taking all necessary decisions.

Mahendra Guragain, member secretary at high-level Covid Crisis Management Center said local authorities are is authorised to take all decisions related to handling the Covid pandemic.

The government had set up the Covid-19 Crisis Management Committee in April as a temporary mechanism to respond to and recommend the Covid-19 related issues but since the cases have surged across the country, it hasn’t met for the the last one week.

Since Deputy Prime Minister Ishwor Pokharel’s was transferred from the Defense Ministry to minister at the Prime Minister’s Office last week, the next meeting of Covid-19 Crisis Management Committee has not been fixed because he is busy in his new assignment, according to Guragain.