Health Min busts fake notice declaring holiday period from March 14-21 amid Coronavirus

Amidst the rising scare of the deadly Coronavirus, the Ministry of Health issued a fact check on one of the fake office memorandum that has been doing rounds on social media. According to the document being circulated, the Ministry of Health and Family had declared a holiday from March 14 to March 21 to all schools, colleges, educational institutes and workplaces having more than 10 employees in the state of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim, in wake of the novel Coronavirus. The circular also mentioned that a fine of Rs 5,000 would be applicable if the organisations fail to comply with the directive. 

However, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on Friday has clarified that the circular doing rounds is fake and no such notice has been issued by the ministry. Here is the clarification issued by the Ministry: 

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88 positive cases confirmed so far

Amid the novel Coronavirus breakout, 88 positive cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the country. Out of these, 3 from Kerala were treated and discharged, and in addition, 7 more from Safdarjung have also recovered while 64 cases of the 81 confirmed are of Indian nationals, 16 Italian nationals, and one Canadian national, said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary Health Ministry on Friday. 

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Speaking to media on Friday, Lav Agarwal said, "It is important to understand that it is not a health emergency. We are trying to support the initiative taken by the state in terms of managing the situation. We have 56 collections centres. We hope we continue to remain in the same state where not many tests are to be done."

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'1131 people evacuated so far'

Elaborating on the steps taken by the government to rescue citizens stranded abroad, Agarwal said, "So far the government has evacuated 1,131 people including 48 individuals from countries such as Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China, United States, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru. Till date, 890 evacuees from these 19 affected countries have been discharged, after 14 days of isolation and having tested negative."

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