Fear goes viral: Why you shouldn’t panic

NEW DELHI: The coronavirus scare grew in Delhi-NCR on Tuesday, with two private schools being shut in Noida. Three other branches of one of these schools — one in south Delhi and two in Gurgaon — also advanced their spring breaks as a precaution.The Shriram Millennium School, Noida, where two children of the Delhi resident (who tested positive for Covid-19) study, said it would close till Friday on the advice of Gautam Budh Nagar chief medical officer Anurag Bhargava. Shiv Nadar School, Noida, announced holidays till March 10. Meanwhile, The Shri Ram School , Vasant Vihar, will shut from Thursday and its Aravali and Moulsari campuses in Gurgaon will close from March 9. The schools’ management said: “The spring break has been advanced. The holidays will be utilised for sanitising the schools as a precautionary measure.”At least 70 people who came in contact with the Covid-19 patient, including six from Agra and 44 who attended a birthday party thrown by him, are under watch.Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said the government was taking all possible steps to keep the city safe. Flanked by deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Jain said, “Isolation wards are being readied in 25 hospitals, including 19 government-run and six private hospitals.” As many as 3.5-lakh N95 masks were being arranged, he added. “We have over 8,000 separation kits for staff treating coronavirus patients.”Health ministry officials told TOI that the six people from Agra, who are suspected to be infected, have a high viral load and have been quarantined at Safdarjung Hospital, while others who came in contact with the Delhi resident have been put under isolation at their respective homes.“Those admitted at Safdarjung hospital are under isolation and stable. We have sent their lung washing samples for testing the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. Confirmation is awaited,” the health ministry said.The Delhi Covid-19 patient had visited the La Piazza restaurant at Hyatt Regency Delhi on February 28. As a precautionary measure, the hotel said they had asked the staff present at the restaurant at that time to go on self-quarantine for 14 days.“Government authorities recently confirmed that an individual who dined at La Piazza restaurant at Hyatt Regency Delhi on February 28, 2020, has been diagnosed with Covid-19,” Hyatt Regency Delhi, area VP and general manager Julian Ayers said in a statement.Meanwhile, an Italian tourist, who had come to India along with 21 others from his country, has confirmed positive for Covid-19. The virus has also showed up in the first test conducted on his wife. With this, the total number of cases in India is likely to rise to seven. Officially, the number is six because the result of the confirmatory test on the Italian woman is awaited. Of these, three cases detected in Kerala have been treated and sent home.Top officials in the health ministry said both the Delhi resident and the Italian national confirmed positive for Covid-19 were stable.“They are under quarantine and recovering well at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital and Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital, respectively,” said an official.The other Italian nationals in the group (13 women and eight men) and three drivers who accompanied them have been put under isolation at the ITBP facility, sources said.Sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the issue of Covid-19 management in Delhi with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal . This was the first meeting of the two since Kejriwal took charge as chief minister for his third term.Meanwhile, in Ghaziabad, the health department sent two samples of residents, who have recently returned from Iran , for coronavirus testing. Officials from the department said that they got information about the two people — one from Indirapuram and the other from Vaishali, Sector 5 — on Monday. While one person is suffering from cough and cold, the other is not known to have any such symptoms as of now. G K Mishra, the district malaria officer, said: “No positive case of coronavirus has been found in Ghaziabad so far.”