The Health, Medical and Family Welfare (HM&FW) Department issued a notification on Wednesday listing measures for containing, controlling and preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the wake of its declaration by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a global pandemic and the threat posed by it to the State.
The measures announced by the department, according to a GO issued by Special Chief Secretary (HM&FW) K.S. Jawahar Reddy, are the closure of all educational, training, coaching (schools/colleges/universities) institutions with immediate effect up to March 31, immediate evacuation of students/trainees from all hostels and boarding facilities and sending them to homes under due precautions and advising them to stay at homes and imparting online classes wherever possible for the sake of continuity.
The other measures for schools and colleges are: conducting examinations as per schedule where they are going on and sending them home immediately on completion of the schedules, maintenance of a physical distance of one metre between students in the ongoing examinations and making the students suffering from fever, cold and cough to write examinations in separate rooms.
Besides, the department has directed that 13 ‘social distancing’ measures be taken, most significant of them is for hospitals to strictly follow necessary protocols related to COVID-l9 management and to restrict families, friends and children visiting the patients.
Keeping already planned weddings to limited gatherings and postponing all non-essential social and cultural gatherings and encouraging private sector employees to work from home are among the social distancing measures which are considered effective steps to prevent the virus from taking its toll.
