The local administrations of Kathmandu Valley are planning to ease the prohibitory orders from Friday onwards and are likely to allow grocery stores and department stores to open and vehicles carrying construction materials to ply.

“The final announcement will be made today evening after the meeting of Valley’s chief district officers,” Dhundi Prasad Niraula, chief district officer of Lalitpur, told the Post.

In the current prohibitory orders in place from Friday till June 3 , district administration offices of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur had not allowed grocery stores and department stores to open citing the unabated spread of the coronavirus.

The Valley has been in lockdown since April 29.

“Because the number of new infections has come down in the Valley we have felt these shops selling essential goods need to be opened,” said Niraula.

Last Thursday the number of daily new infections in Kathmandu Valley’s three districts stood at 2,367 while on Monday it came down to 1,263 according to the Health Ministry.

Niraula said vehicles that carry construction materials will be allowed to ply on the roads only at certain times and the same will apply in case of grocery stores and department stores.

“We are yet to fix the timing,” he said.

The decision to close grocery shops had triggered panic in the Valley. One day prior to the total ban on the opening of grocery stores, anxious citizens in big numbers had thronged grocery stores increasing the risk of virus transmissions. Doctors and virologists had criticised the move as being ‘short-sighted.’