Offices were closed, markets were shuttered and vehicles were forced off the streets in Nepal's capital as authorities imposed a 15-day lockdown because of spiking cases of Covid-19.

The lockdown was imposed in most of the Himalayan nation's major cities and towns. In Kathmandu and surrounding districts, police set up checkpoints and were stopping drivers and pedestrians. Several vehicles were impounded for defying the lockdown.

Nepal's health ministry has recorded 312,699 infections while 3,211 people have died from Covid-19, according to AP.