As a precautionary measure in view of Coronavirus scare, the Chandigarh Administration on Wednesday closed boating and amusement park for children at Sukhna Lake, the city’s main tourist attraction till March 31.
The sketch artists making the portrait of visitors at Sukhna Lake have also been banned at Sukhna Lake. Apart from this, hop on hop off bus tours in the city have been suspended.
In view of large gatherings at Government offices, the Administration on Wednesday also issued guidelines to all Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments, offices, Boards and Corporation to take necessary precautions.
A day before, the Administration had shut down another tourist spot-Rock Garden- for visitors till March 31. Also, schools, colleges, universities, cinema halls, shopping malls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, pubs, spa centres, video gaming centres and coaching centres have been closed down till March 31 in the city.
Wedding and pubs which serve food have been exempted from the ban on gathering of upto 100 persons. An assembly of more than five people has also been banned in Botanical Garden at Sarangpur in the city.
Meanwhile, the advisory issued for UT employees on Wednesday stated, “No Government employee will be allowed to avail ex-India leave except in case of extreme exigency. Employees of Administration who return from any country to India since March 1 should not attend work for atleast 14 days. They should self-quarantine at home and follow Health Department guidelines.”
“All potentially contaminated high contact areas such as toilets, door handles, telephones should be cleaned. If an employee shows symptoms of COVID-19 at office, the unwell person should be removed to an area away from other people. If the COVID-19 case is confirmed, the senior officials should contact the Health Department to discuss it and inform about the case,” it stated.
“Also, if an employee is confirmed to be suffering from COVID-19, an office portion should be closed for sanitation in consultation with the Health Department and all employees who came in contact with confirm case should home quarantine,” the order added.
The Administration had already begun screening of employees and visitors at UT Secretariat, Sector 9 and Deputy Commissioner office, Sector 17 here.
Till Wednesday evening, not a single case of Coronavirus has been reported in Chandigarh, which is a joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
PGIMER RESCHEDULES OPD TIMINGS
To follow guidelines of social distancing, the OPD Registration timings of PGIMER have been rescheduled from 8:00 am to 10:00 am as against the previous timings of 8:00 am to 11:00 am, said an official spokesperson.
The spokesperson said that the World Health Organization has declared COVID19 as pandemic. Around 10,000 patients visit various OPDs of the PGIMER, Chandigarh to avail its different services.
One of the most important ways to reduce spread of this infection in community, as declared by various experts, is social distancing. Hence it is very imperative to discourage crowd accumulation, he said.
The general public is requested that the patients who cannot avoid visiting the OPD may do so with only one attendant to avoid exposing themselves and others from possible infection, the spokesperson added.
