Govt taking precautionary measures amid fear of COVID-19
Amidst fear of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Nepal, the government is taking precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus from travellers.
With the increasing reported cases in countries other than mainland China, the government has decided to stop issuing visa-on-arrival to the people from five countries that have recorded an increase in virus infection.
According to the Department of Immigration (DoI) on the basis of global recommendations and measures of the WHO, Nepal has decided to temporarily suspend visa-on-arrival for nationals from China, South Korea, Italy, Japan and Iran effective from March 10.
However, the department has said that those willing to visit Nepal can obtain a visa beforehand from the Nepali missions abroad. The applicants in these countries are required to submit a recently issued health certificate with the visa application.
The government has also issued a travel advisory for Nepalis in which it requests people to avoid travelling to these countries until and unless it is really necessary.
The TIA has also barred people to receive or drop people off at the airport. The airport authority has asked all the visitors entering the airport premises to compulsorily wear masks. The distribution of visitor pass has been put on hold for the time being, according to TIA.
Also, the government has announced to cancel all promotional activities related to the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign in foreign countries. The decision comes in the wake of the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the global and the risk of transmission through travellers.
New cases of coronavirus show no signs of abetting with more than 2,900 casualties and more than 85,000 people infected across the globe. The spread of the virus has alarmed the tourism industry which was buoyed by the VNY2020. Bookings have been cancelled in most of the hotels.
The outbreak of coronavirus in China has dealt a blow to the mega tourism campaign not only because the arrival of Chinese tourists has slumped but also because many international visitors are avoiding their holidays in Asia. Visitors from China are the second biggest contributor to Nepal’s tourism industry.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently made a statement saying, “No country should assume it won’t get cases, which would be a fatal mistake, quite literally.”
The tourism industry of Nepal has been hit hard by the fear of coronavirus as the number of international tourists slumped in the first two months of the VNY2020. Immigration officials say that the number of tourists from China has dropped drastically in February even though the first month of 2020 had recorded 2% growth in tourist arrivals.
