KATHMANDU, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The Nepali government has decided to allow one flight each week to China and Qatar respectively at a time when international flights have been suspended till the end of this month in efforts to curb the raging coronavirus, government officials said Tuesday.
"There will be a regular commercial flight once a week to China and Qatar," Mani Thapa, minister for water supply and sanitation, told Xinhua Tuesday. "This is basically to ease the supply of medical goods and ease commuting of the stranded people if necessary."
The minister said a Nepali airline will operate the flights to China and Qatar, but he did not say when the flights will begin.
Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe, minister for land Management, cooperatives and poverty alleviation, said the ministry of culture, tourism and civil aviation will issue the permission for such flights. "The culture, tourism and civil aviation ministry has the authority to make the necessary arrangements for it," she told Xinhua.
Nepali Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali also confirmed the decision, saying "the cabinet decided to allow international flights between Kathmandu and Guangzhou (China) and Kathmandu and Qatar for the purpose of medical supplies and humanitarian tasks only."
In early May, the Nepali government imposed a ban on domestic and international flights till May 14 as the country had been gripped by a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak. The authorities then extended the ban till the end of May, with only two flights a week between Kathmandu and New Delhi of India allowed under an air bubble agreement.
Nepal is facing a short supply of medical oxygen and hospital beds as the raging coronavirus has been sickening more people and leaving more dead over the past weeks.
By Tuesday, the country has a total of 472,354 infections with 8,136 reported in the last 24 hours, while the total death toll stands at 5,411 with 196 logged on the day.
