In a relief to several parents and students of a school in Noida, samples of those who had attended the birthday party of the student whose father has been tested positive for coronavirus in New Delhi, have returned negative. However, the man's six relatives in Agra have been tested positive for COVID-19. He had travelled to Agra to meet them.
On February 28, the Delhi-based man, who was tested positive for the coronavirus infection on Monday, had thrown a party to celebrate his son's birthday in Noida. According to officials, six people, including three students from the his son's school, had come in contact with him during the party. They have been kept quarantined at their homes for the next 14 days. They would be retested if they develop symptoms for COVID-19, officials said. Among those whose samples were taken on Tuesday were a couple and their 12-year-old son, and a woman and her two children, aged 12 and five, according to Noida Health department sources.
After there were reports that two schools in Noida and Greater Noida had been closed amid coronavirus scare, BN Singh, District Magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, said that the district administration has not ordered the closure of any school. He also added that as a precautionary measure, the school management has declared holiday for a few days and that the school is being sanitised.
Two Noida schools had reportedly announced their closure in messages sent to the parents on Tuesday, a day after the Union Health Ministry reported two fresh cases of coronavirus in the country — one of them in Delhi and the other in Telangana.
One of the schools, where the infected Delhi man's son is a primary class student, said it will remain shut from March 4 to March 6. A Health Department team had later on Tuesday fumigated and sanitised the campus of the school.
The other school had suspended all classes till March 9 on its own, the officials said.
The possibility of a coronavirus outbreak had triggered wide-spread panic in Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi, as hundreds of people rushed to pharmacies to buy safety masks and hand-sanitisers.
BN Singh added the government and the administration were monitoring the situation, stressing that there was no need to panic.
Noida Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Anuraag Bhargava requested the public to wash their hands regularly and not to touch their eyes, mouth and nose with dirty hands. “If they have cough, fever or difficulty in breathing — three symptoms of coronavirus — they must at once seek medical help," the CMO added.
(With inputs from PTI)
Six, including three children, had come in contact with the Delhi-based man, who has tested positive for the coronavirus infection on Monday, during a party thrown by him on February 28.