June 3: With the resumption of flights to three different countries, the government has prepared a list of hotels for keeping people arriving from abroad in quarantine.

The Department of Tourism (DoT) has made public the list of hotels to be used as quarantine facility. The hotels were selected on the basis of certain criteria.

The hotels to be used for quarantine are required to completely close the dining area, buffet, gym, sauna, indoor and outdoor games.

The department has made it clear that such hotels are required to have amenities like 20 rooms, a separate gate for entry, an open space, or a garden for jogging for the individuals in quarantine.

Additionally, the criteria specify that the hotel should have sufficient open space to provide service to air passengers and for the collection of swab test samples.  Likewise, television, Wi-Fi, and an attached bathroom with hot water for bathing and drinking are mandatory. Similarly, the hotels are required to make arrangements to provide food and other services in the room.

The department has mentioned that soap, toothpaste, brush, hand wash, and towel should be kept in each room for one week. On May 31, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation had implemented the standards that the Nepali and foreign nationals arriving in Nepal from abroad would have to follow. Accordingly, the arriving individuals are required to have a PCR test report taken within 72-hour, document of hotel booking, and stay in a mandatory five-day hotel quarantine.

An arrangement has also been made to stay at home for 10 days on the recommendation of the concerned hotel and regulatory body after staying in the hotel quarantine for a day.

The ministry has banned quarantine in hotels in densely populated areas including Thamel and Gongabu in Kathmandu. Stating that the risk of spreading coronavirus (Covid-19) infection is high, the ministry has banned quarantine in hotels in these areas.

The department issued a notice on June 2 stating that five-star hotels like The Soaltee Kathmandu, Shangrila, Radisson, and Hyatt, will be used as quarantine hotels. Hotel Shankar, Hotel Himalaya, and Grand Hotel are the four-star hotels to be used for the quarantine service. As per the decision of the department, five three-star hotels and 51 tourist hotels have been listed for the quarantine facility of the arriving visitors and returnees. Similarly, Park Village and Gokarna Forest Resorts have been listed under the resort category.

Earlier, eight hotels were used for quarantine.

The hotel quarantine service is expected to support the hotel sector that has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has also encouraged the use of hotels as quarantine in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. According to a source at the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), the government has made the hotel quarantine standard mandatory but it is not likely to be implemented. 

"Only a handful of people are arriving from abroad and on the other hand most of the passengers are going to stay in home isolation rather than hotels," the source informed.