The movement of people from India through the Gaddachauki border transit point has been halted in view of the increasing infection of the Omicron variant of the Novel Coronavirus in recent days.A meeting of the District COVID Management Committee convened by the Chief District Officer Ram Prasad Pandeya on Sunday decided to prohibit the movement through the border transit point of goods and people except the essential ones from the India side. This edict became effective from 12 midnight on January 23.

Those people who have to enter the district from India for very essential works have to produce the documents related to the work and the COVID vaccination card (even the card’s photo in mobile is acceptable) and show it to the police. Similarly, wedding and other cultural rituals can be carried out without exceeding the participation of 25 persons and the religious rituals like puja and other programmes, barring the regular rituals, have been prohibited for now.

The ambulances have also been urged to install GPS system in them. The meeting also decided to conduct public awareness programmes against COVID-19, adherence to the health safety protocols and mask campaign in all the local levels of the district in coordination with the government bodies, the local governments, NGOs, social and community organisations, Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ).