April 11: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal has said the government was preparing to avoid lockdown as far as possible for the containment of second wave of coronavirus.    
Inaugurating the 30th annual general meeting of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) in the capital on Saturday (April 10), Minister Dhakal said that the government was making utmost efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic.    
“The dreadful situation of the past is knocking on us again,” he said, adding that the government would skip the idea of imposing lockdown if possible.    
He said that the country's tourism sector that suffered worst from the Covid-19 pandemic has witnessed some signs of progress in the recent days but threat looms large from the resurrection of the coronavirus infection.    
On the occasion, Minister Dhakal expressed his readiness for policy facilitation to resolve the problems existing in the country's mountaineering sector. He also said the area of cooperation between the government and private sector should be made broader for the tourism sector's prosperity and development.    
Ministry's Secretary Yadav Prasad Koirala, NMA President Santa Bir Lama and others expressed their opinions on country's tourism and mountaineering sector calling for the NMA to stress on innovation and infrastructure development. -- RSS