April 1: The government of Nepal has officially called off the Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign, the state-owned national news agency reported. The VNY 2020 aimed at bringing in more than 2 million foreign tourists to Nepal has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.  
President Bidya Devi Bhandari had inaugurated the Campaign on January 1 this year but given the outbreak of COVID-19, the government decided to postpone the campaign, Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) said.    
Earlier, a meeting of the Council of Ministers had decided to postpone the campaign till April this year. Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Kedar Bahadur Adhikari told RSS that the meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 22 took a decision to this effect.

“All the programmes related to Visit Nepal 2020 have been officially called off. We have not set any agenda for the campaign as of now. However the budget for the next fiscal year would discuss and decide on how to forward the campaign then,” RSS quoted Adhikari as saying.     
With the official decision to call off the campaign, the Visit Nepal Year 2020 Secretariat at Keshar Mahal in Kathmandu would be dissolved by mid-April this year.    
So far five positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Nepal, of which one infected person has returned home after treatment and recovery. The government has enforced a nation-wide lockdown since March 24 to contain the outbreak of the deadly virus. The lockdown will remain in force till April 7.