Kathmandu: Odd-even rules for vehicles reinforced as COVID-19 cases surge

A meeting of Chief District Officers of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur on Thursday had issued an order to operate public and private vehicles (including two-wheelers) on the basis of dates. As per the order, vehicles with odd registration number can ply on road on odd days of the week and even on even days in Kathmandu Valley.

However, the Valley administration issued a new order on Friday specifying types of vehicles that will be exempt from the rule. Vehicles transporting goods for most essential categories and a few others will not have to adhere to the rule.

To clear off the confusion surrounding the odd-even number system in the vehicles, the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, said that ambulances, hearse, fire brigade, vehicles supplying gas, oxygen cylinders and petroleum products will be allowed to ply the roads irrespective of their number plates.

Also, those vehicles carrying medicine and healthcare tools and materials, food items and agricultural products will be allowed.

Vehicles carrying construction materials, vehicles related to banks and financial institutions, aviation companies, postal and courier services, telecommunications services and journalists carrying identity card issued by the Department of Information and Broadcasting or their respective media houses are exempted from odd-even number system.

"The odd-even regulation on vehicles which has started from today (Saturday) it possibly could extend some help in controlling the contagion. But this only shouldn't be considered as the ultimate solution to control the COVID-19 infection as it wouldn't be able to go on long-run that's why it shouldn't be considered as the only option. On top of that, the public also should be cautious, they also should abide by the rule of following safety and health protocols while going out in public and crowded areas which would help to curtail the corona virus infection," Aryan Dhimal, a resident of Kathmandu told ANI.

Thursday's order also has stipulated public transport to not have more passengers than the seat capacity, all passengers should be required to wear masks, and sanitizers be provided at the door of the vehicle and inside the vehicle.

Also, it was mentioned in the order that the head of the office will make proper management of the service flow in all the public and government bodies in the district.

The Kathmandu Valley has become the hotspot of COVID-19 new cases as it has been recording almost half of the new cases registered every day.

The country on Friday recorded a total of 10,703 new cases of coronavirus out of which 8,815 were detected through the RT-PCR method and 1,888 from the antigen method.

There were 4,279 cases in Kathmandu, 453 in Bhaktapur and 567 in Lalitpur, taking the total cases in the valley to 5,299. Currently, there are 65,374 active cases in the country. (ANI)