Coronavirus scare: Schools, colleges shut in Noida, Ghaziabad till March 22

NOIDA: All schools and colleges in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad have been asked to remain shut till March 22, after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath held an emergency meeting in Lucknow on Friday to come up with a strategy for coronavirus cases. The Indian Medical Association (IMA), in collaboration with the district administration, has decided to scale up preparations for Covid-19 by providing free of cost quarantine wards across 15 private hospitals in Noida.
Coronavirus outbreak live updates
Officials, however, told TOI that though all educational institutions have been asked to close their premises till March 22, examinations will be conducted as per schedule where they have already started. In such institutions, the students have been asked to maintain personal hygiene and go for self-quarantine at home in case of symptoms, and not share food with others. Other institutions have been asked to defer examinations that are yet to start. Private coaching centres have also been asked to shut down for the time being.
“We held a review meeting with Meerut commissioner Anita Meshram on Thursday, where I had also invited all stakeholders, including IMA, and asked them to let us know how they could help us in curbing the spread of coronavirus in the district. IMA has come on board with all assistance that includes free quarantine wards across 15 hospitals in the city,” said BN Singh, the district magistrate of GB Nagar. “The deployment of revenue department staff, including all SDMs and tehsildars, is also being done to assist the health department.”
The Noida Metro Rail Corporation has also started intensive sanitation drives across all Aqua Line stations and train coaches. “The frequency of cleaning at the stations and inside the trains has also been increased. Workplaces, toilets, glass doors, etc are being disinfected. NMRC is using special chemicals and cleaning agents to sanitise all premises,” said an NMRC spokesperson.
By Friday, Gautam Budh Nagar had 1,222 notified travellers, of which 1,164 have been tracked. The total number of samples collected and sent for testing were 170. While one case is noted positive (the Italian tour guide based in Noida), 115 have turned negative even as reports of 55 are awaited, officials said. In addition, a total of 854 people are currently under surveillance and 310 cases are more than 28 days old.
Noida sets up Covid-19 helpline: The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration has set up a control room at the Surajpur collectorate with 24x7 helpline number, 0120-2569901, for information, feedback and reporting.