Coronavirus outbreak: Chandigarh administrator suspends biometric attendance, breath tests

Amid the Coronavirus outbreak in India, the UT administrator suspended biometric attendance and breath tests in Chandigarh. According to reports, the biometric attendance system in all government and private institutions has been suspended. Along with it, the administrator also appealed to the residents to avoid public gatherings on the occassion of Holi.

Further, as per reports, the directions were passed during a meeting held to review the preparedness for tackling of the deadly novel Coronavirus. No cases of the virus have been reported in Chandigarh yet. 

Coronavirus cases rise in India 

According to reports, around 31 people have been tested positive for the deadly Coronavirus in India. According to the Health Minister, out of these 16 were Italian Nationals. They have been sent to Indo-Tibetan Border Police's (ITBP) quarantine facility in Chhawla. Following this, two more cases have come to light, including an employee of Paytm.

The infected persons also include six family members of the Delhi man who was infected with coronavirus who were also tested positive for the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people globally so far.

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Ministry issues travel advisory

As Coronavirus cases are on a rise in India with 30 cases confirmed so far, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday issued a travel advisory. Taking to Twitter, the Ministry mentioned that the following advisory is a supersession of all the other advisories issued earlier. 

Read: Telangana govt steps up prevention measures for coronavirus, Normalcy returns to I-T corridor

Coronavirus outbreak

According to the latest reports, 53 new deaths in China due to coronavirus infections have been confirmed, taking the total death toll to over 3,000. While most of the cases are from Hubei province of China and the city of Wuhan (the epicentre of the outbreak), other countries including Iran, Italy, Japan and the Philippines have also reported deaths related to novel coronavirus.

First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has now spread across 20 countries since December 2019. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has dubbed the virus as COVID-19. 

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