All Primary Schools In Delhi To Remain Closed Till March 31 To Prevent Spread Of Coronavirus: Manish Sisodia

What can be termed as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday announced that all government and private schools (up to class 5) will remain closed till March 31. All Delhi government, aided, private and schools run by civic bodies will remain shut, said Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio. "As a precautionary measure to prevent the possibility of spread of COVID-19 amongst our children, Delhi Government has directed immediate closure of all primary schools (Govt/ aided/ private/MCD/NDMC) till 31/3/20(sic)," Manish Sisodia tweeted.

As a precautionary measure to prevent the possibility of spread of COVID-19 amongst our children, Delhi Government has directed immediate closure of all primary schools (Govt/ aided/ private/MCD/NDMC) till 31/3/20

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) March 5, 2020

The government on Tuesday confirmed that there is no shortage of raw ingredients or medicines in the country for next three months and a group of ministers is monitoring the situation on a daily basis to ensure preparedness for the challenge posed by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda said that all initiatives are being taken to ensure there is no impact of the disease in India. "There is no shortage of any APIs in the country. We have sufficient APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients) and medicines in the country,” he said adding “for another three months there is no shortage for undertaking production in the pharma sector".

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While addressing the 5^th international exhibition and conference on pharmaceutical and medical industry organised by Department of Pharmaceuticals, Gujarat government and industry chamber FICCI, Gowda said, "Our government has taken all initiatives to ensure that as far as our country is concerned, coronavirus should be stopped, and there is no hazard as far as this issue is concerned."

Coronavirus is a challenge and “we should make all efforts that need to be taken...,” he added.

Speaking on the preparedness for coronavirus in the country, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizer Mansukh Mandaviya said the government has formed a group of ministers for this and it is tackling and monitoring the situation on a daily basis.

“A task force has also been set up regarding APIs and I am leading it. We have decided to increase the production of APIs in the country so that we are not dependent on any country for them,” he said.

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Mandaviya further said, "We have discussed in detail to ensure that we are able to sustain in the international markets regarding the APIs and we are shortly coming out with two policies. The benefit of these schemes will be for the API parks and medical drug parks. India will become self-sustained in APIs."

(With agency inputs)