An alert was sounded across UP after some people in Agra and Lucknow were suspected to be infected by coronavirus.
The UP government has set up a 22-member high-powered committee for taking preventive measures on the coronavirus as well as to spread awareness among the masses. A meeting of the high-power committee headed by Medical Education Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna and Chief Secretary RK Tiwari was scheduled to be held on Tuesday evening to update the health officials about the measures taken to defuse the threat.
However, Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh, while talking to a news channel on Tuesday, confirmed that six people in Agra were suspected to be infected by the deadly virus. The minister said that their blood samples had been sent to the National Institute of Virology lab in Pune and National Centre for Disease Control in New Delhi. Singh said that samples of 23 others and the family members of the six suspected cases were also sent for test. The six people suspected to be infected by the virus have been shifted to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi.
Singh said that special monitoring was being done at the airport and on the Indo-Nepal border.
The UP government has set up a helpline — 18001805145 — on which people can report any incidence or get their confusion over the coronavirus removed.
Meanwhile, a suspected coronavirus infected patient who arrived in Lucknow from Dubai was admitted to the Lok Bandhu hospital in the state capital.
Doctors said the passenger, who arrived at Lucknow airport, was detected with symptoms of COVID-19 . His blood sample has been sent to Pune for test.
On the other hand, till date, 2200 people from China have arrived in UP and out of them, samples of 120 have been sent for test.
Meanwhile, two private schools cancelled classes in Noida on Tuesday for the next few days as a precautionary measure after the father of a student tested positive for coronavirus, officials said. The two schools announced their closure in messages sent to the parents, a day after the Union Health Ministry reported two fresh cases of coronavirus, one of them in Delhi.
One of the schools, where the Delhi man’s son is a primary class student, said it would remain closed from March 4 to March 6. The parent had thrown a birthday party last week for the child, triggering fears that the students who attended it might be at risk.
Medical samples from five students from the school have been taken to check if anyone has been infected, an official said.
Earlier in the day, the school said it was postponing internal examinations scheduled for Tuesday due to some “unavoidable circumstances”. The board exams are not affected, the messages sent to the parents made clear.
The second school said it was suspending classes up to March 9 and sanitising its campus. Fumigation was underway at both schools. A Health department team led by Noida’s chief medical officer visited one of the schools in the morning, an official said.
Meanwhile hotels and tourists sites in Agra have been instructed to inform the office of the chief medical officer as soon as visitors from Italy, Iran or China arrive, so that they could be screened for coronavirus infection, an official said on Tuesday.
As soon as any information is received, a team of doctors will be dispatched to examine the visitors for symptoms of COVID-19, Agra’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Mukesh Vats told media persons.
“We have issued instructions to all hotels in the city that if any person is coming from Italy, Iran or China, they should inform us. As soon as the hotel informs us, a team of doctors goes to the hotel, and examines them for symptoms of coronavirus. All the tourists sites have been told to inform the 24-hour control room about visitors from countries where coronavirus outbreak has been reported,” Dr Vats said.
Asked whether symptoms of coronavirus had been found in any visitor in Agra, he said, “The group of 19 tourists who had come from Jaipur were staying in Crystal Sarovar, and had arrived day before yesterday (Sunday) at 2:00 pm.  Next (Monday) morning at around 8:00 am, they left for Delhi.”
“After this, another batch of 18-19 tourists was staying at the Taj Convention Hotel. They have been tested and have not been found symptomatic. The history of the tourists was scanned, and symptoms searched. All of them are normal. The second batch was tested yesterday in the afternoon,” Dr Vats said.
The UP government had on January 27 directed officials to set up 10-bed isolation wards in every district hospital and medical college of the state as a precautionary measure to deal with any suspected case of coronavirus.
The directive came during a review meeting of the Health department chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The chief minister directed that special vigil be maintained at airports and on Indo-Nepal border. He further directed Health officials to take necessary steps in coordination with the Union Health Ministry. Directions were also issued to spread awareness about the virus and precautionary steps.