Coronavirus: Anganwadis Closed in Delhi, Morning School Assemblies Halted

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said Anganwadis have been closed in view of the coronavirus scare.

The government child-care centres have been closed from Friday, he added.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country is 31, according to Union health ministry officials.

The Delhi government also directed schools in the national capital to suspend morning assembly as a precautionary measure for coronavirus, officials said on Friday.

The Directorate of Education (DoE) has also advised schools to withhold biometric attendance for staff till further orders.

"Do not hold school assembly. Also withhold biometric attendance for staff till further orders," the DoE has said in a letter to principals of all government and private schools.

The primary classes of all schools in the national capital have been closed till March 31, but students of secondary classes and staff are required to attend school.

No Biometric Attendance for Govt Staff

All central government employees were on Friday exempted from marking attendance through Aadhaar-based biometric system as a preventive measure to check the spread of the coronavirus, according to a Personnel Ministry order.

Instead, they will be marking their attendance manually in the attendance register.

"It is learnt that the most common method of transmission of the virus seems to be through infected surfaces. Therefore, it is desirable to avoid touching surfaces, which might be infected due to human touch," the order said.

It said all the ministries have been asked to exempt their employees to mark attendance through the Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system till March 31.

No Public at Retreat Ceremony at Attari-Wagah Border

The Border Security Force said the retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab will be conducted without public presence due to coronavirus.

Meanwhile, 13 Italian tourists were kept in isolation overnight at their hotel in Amritsar by the health department to check for coronavirus symptoms, an official said.

The tourists were asked not to leave their hotel rooms after they checked in on Thursday night.

However, they showed no symptoms of the virus in the medical check-up done on Friday and were allowed to leave for Delhi, Amritsar Sub Divisional Magistrate Vikas Hira told PTI over the phone.

Earlier, Amritsar Civil Surgeon Prabhdeep Kaur had said that the group had been quarantined. They were also wrongly identified as Iranians.

SDM Hira said the tourists were travelling in the country for the past four days and had come to Amritsar from Haridwar for a day-long visit.

Delhi Shooting World Cup Postponed

The upcoming combined shooting World Cup in the national capital was postponed to May, while an Olympic test event in Tokyo stood cancelled due to the global novel coronavirus outbreak.

The tournament, sanctioned by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), was to be held from March 15 to 25 in the capital's Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. The Olympic Test event was scheduled to be held from April 16.

The World Cup will now be held in two parts before the Olympic Games.

"It is proposed to divide the World Cup in two parts and hold Rifle and Pistol competitions on May 5-12, 2020, while Shotgun competitions – on June 2-9, 2020," the ISSF said in a statement.

The decision was taken after the tournament organisers National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) approached the ISSF with a proposal to postpone the event.