Coronavirus: High-Profile Noida School Postpones Exams After Student's Birthday Party, Here's Why

A high-profile school located in Noida’s Sector 135 was forced to cancel the annual exams on Tuesday due to threat of coronavirus outbreak. News Nation has learnt that the child of sole coronavirus positive patient from Delhi is a student at the Noida school. On Friday, the COVID-19 patient’s child attended a birthday party of one of his classmates. Several children and students came into the contact of the child of the coronavirus patient. Since the Government of India reported about the Delhi case on Monday, all students have been quarantined as a preventive measure. “Exams for today are confirmed to have been postponed in the school,” sources told News Nation. Noida CMO is reaching the school and the DM is also monitoring the situation. (LIVE UPDATES)

News Nation has also learnt that the school has announced 3-day holiday following the COVID-19 scare. The school officials have conveyed the same to the parents ‘verbally’. There are reports that some other Noida schools are also closing down after the reports. Health officials are screening the area. The ‘once-in-a-century’ pathogen has killed more than 3,000 people around the globe. In India so far, three positive cases have been reported. One in Delhi, another in Telangana and an Italian tourist in Jaipur. Previously, there were several suspected cases of coronavirus in Delhi. However, it was only on Monday that a positive case came to light.

Meanwhile, Indian-American Seema Verma has been appointed as one of the key members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force constituted by US President Donald Trump to combat the deadly disease that has claimed six lives in the country and infected over 90 others. Trump on January 30 created the coronavirus task force to lead his administration's response to the deadly virus that emerged in China and has wrecked havoc across the globe. The task force is led by Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and is coordinated through the National Security Council.

In a tweet on Monday, US Vice President Mike Pence announced the appointment of Seema Verma, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and Robert Wilkie, Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs, to the task force. "The White House Coronavirus Task Force has been working every single day to ensure the health, safety & well-being of the American people," he tweeted.

"Today, we made good progress in combatting the spread of the Coronavirus and added key members, @SeemaCMS and @SecWilkie, to the Task Force," he said. All the six deaths in the US are from the Washington state with 43 domestic cases and 48 cases of the individuals who returned to the US, officials said on Monday.

(With agency inputs)