Kathmandu May 22.

Hotels and resorts are to be used as quarantine facilities for accommodating citizens to be brought from abroad. Minister of State Rambir Manandhar, in a discussions held at the Ministry of Urban Development on Thursday, shared that necessary consultations have begun for managing as quarantine the hotels and resorts operating in systematic manner throughout the country. According to him, 518 beds are ready in Kathmandu Valley at present. Around 65 thousand quarantine beds are readied across the country while 25 thousand people are living in quarantines. The government has assigned Minister of State Manandhar the responsibility of monitoring an facilitating the quarantines throughout the country. During the discussions, he said the government has started initiatives for using the big hotels and resorts as quarantine facilities at a time when the country is facing a crisis created by COVID -19 pandemic. He also expected the required cooperation from the hotel and resort entrepreneurs in this connection. The Minister of State said the government could use the hotels which are vacant at present by paying certain amount for saving the life of the people. He said preparations have been made for the required quarantine in Kathmandu Valley in the condition of the government rescuing and bringing home the Nepalis who are in foreign land and affected by the pandemic, adding the Nepali migrant workers in the Gulf countries were in government’s priority for this. The Minister of State said temporary quarantine would be managed in the Valley for keeping those returning via air route. The respective local levels would manage the quarantine. Stating that weaknesses have been seen in the management of quarantine in some places, he said the government was making the required coordination towards correcting these weaknesses. He also shared that the federal government would bear the expenses for managing the quarantines and urged the local governments across the country to better manage the quarantines without any qualms. Minister of State for Health and Population, Nawaraj Rawat, called on all the local levels to follow the standard set by the government regarding management of quarantine. Rawat is also the official responsible for monitoring and facilitating the management of quarantines. High officials of the Ministry of Health and Population, the Ministry of Urban Development, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of General Administration and the Ministry of Defence participated in the discussions.