E-Paper
Follow simple hygiene don’t panic, says UP health minister
Soon after a school in Noida was shut down following Coronavirus (COVID-19) scare, Uttar Pradesh health minister Jai Pratap Singh chaired an interdepartmental coordination
Soon after a school in Noida was shut down following Coronavirus (COVID-19) scare, Uttar Pradesh health minister Jai Pratap Singh chaired an interdepartmental coordination committee meeting COVID-19, comprising officials of UNICEF, IMA, WHO along with state’s health department. He later confirmed that there were 34 suspected cases in the state and said six out of them, from Agra, had tested positive.
In a chat, he said four master trainers along with rapid response teams specially trained to deal with people reporting COVID-19 symptoms have been readied by the health department to react in an emergency. Excerpts:
A school in Noida has been shut down due to the COVID-19 scare. What caused it and how big is the threat in UP now?
The (school) closure is precautionary. A family from Agra and another from Delhi jointly travelled to Italy on holiday and returned to India on February 26. On their return, the Delhi family threw a party in Delhi and later the Agra family also hosted one in Agra. On March 2, the Union health ministry confirmed that Delhi family member had tested positive, becoming the fourth confirmed case of COVID-19 in India. The Delhi party was also attended by 6 persons of two families of Noida which included a student. We also traced a family in Bulandshahr and took their samples as member of this family worked with the Delhi person.
As far as Agra family is concerned, the rapid response team did ‘contact tracing’ of the family and all those whom it had come in contact with.
So what’s the exact number of suspect cases as of now in UP?
As of now, 34 suspects whose samples have been collected.
What is the kind of precaution the UP government is taking?
We have set up a state level inter-departmental coordination committee and I just chaired that meeting comprising members of UNICEF, WHO, health department officials among others. So we have told tourism department to keep a watch on tourists travelling to UP. Tour and travel guides have also been asked to cooperate. Similar cooperation has been sought from hotels frequented by foreign tourists. We have also asked hospitals to be on guard for anyone reporting symptoms. Twelve countries have put on watch list and that means people returning from those countries would be specially watched and screened.
What’s the kind of preparedness the state government has made?
See, there are teams from health department in all airports in the state. Our teams are also on the Indo-Nepal border. We have set up isolation wards in all district hospitals and have also requested medical colleges to do so. Four master trainers, specially trained to deal with such situations along with rapid response teams are in place. But, we would advise against panic reaction. This is that time of the year when there is seasonal change and people also have common cold, sore throat etc and that is why we are repeatedly advising people to follow personal hygiene, avoid unnecessary contact but also guard against panic reaction.
