In a bid to flatten the rising curve of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government on Friday issued advisories cautioning the people. "It is necessary to take complete precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Public cooperation will have to play a major role in the implementation of the central government and state government's arrangements," said CM Adityanath.
He also appealed religious leaders to spread awareness in the society for the control of coronavirus. The CM directed that all religious, spiritual, social, and cultural activities and programmes should be postponed till April 2 including Tehsil Day, Samadhan Divas, Chief Minister Arogya Mela and Janata Darshan.
An intensive checking should be ensured at airports, railway and bus stations, along with state borders, he added. Principals and managers of schools and colleges should ensure that principals, teachers and non-teaching staff shouldn't come to schools till April 2, he added. An instruction to close the malls has also been issued.
Instruction to sanitize Lucknow, Noida and Kanpur cities has been issued. An adequate amount of daily use materials, including food grains, in the state, should be made available. All the District Magistrates should ensure that hoarding or black marketing of essential commodities is not done, added the Chief Minister.
The CM has also said that non-essential OPD and investigation will be postponed in government hospitals till March 31, 2020, and only emergency services will be provided.
The police has been instructed for extensive patrolling across the state to keep a check against the gathering of people anywhere, said CM Adityanath.
The order came after Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor, who attended a series of parties in Lucknow over the past week, tested positive for Coronavirus. She told Zee News, "I came back to Lucknow from London on March 9, 2020. I was screened at the airport and I had no symptoms. I was in London to take care of my children. I came back for work. On 13 March, a family friend's birthday was celebrated and a small get together took place but it was not a party. I am an educated person, I am not going to run away from the airport. And all the news about me throwing a bash is false and baseless. There are a few UP government officials in my family who attended the birthday party, " she added.
The total number of positive cases in India has reached 223 and four people have lost the battle against this deadly virus.
Coronavirus which first emerged in China's Wuhan city has now spread across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, prompting the governments worldwide to take extraordinary measures to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
