Kathmandu, April 3

The government has clarified that it will not ‘rescue’ any foreigners who are stranded in any place outside Kathmandu due to the ongoing lockdown imposed to control the coronavirus infection from Friday night onwards.

Nepal Tourism Board’s Chief Executive Officer Dhananjaya Regmi says the foreign governments, however, will still continue to evacuate their citizens, who had already arrived in Kathmandu, from Nepal.

It means the tourists who are in Kathmandu can go back if their governments arrange a chartered flight, but those who are outside Kathmandu have to stay wherever they are till the lockdown ends.

In the past 10 days, the board rescued 1,708 tourists stranded outside Kathmandu and brought them to Kathmandu. In the latest case, two buses ferried dozens of tourists from Pokhara to Kathmandu.