Coronavirus: Centre-run IGRUA and RGNAU in Amethi go under lockdown

The country's only Centre-run flying training academy here announced a lockdown due to the coronavirus threat and suspended all operations with immediate effect, officials said on Monday.

At present, 240 students are under training at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), an autonomous flying institute under the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), they said.

Besides IGRUA, classes and activities have also been suspended at the Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU), both located at Fursatganj in Amethi, they added.

"Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, all flying training operations have been stopped here with immediate effect and the campus put under lock down, restricting entry and exit of visitors," IGRUA director Krishnendu Gupta said.

MoCA Joint Secretary and RGNAU Vice-Chancellor Ambar Dubey said similar restrictions have been put at the aviation university while all students and faculty have been asked to stay indoors amid suspension of classes.

The officials said all precautions and guidelines issued by the central government were being followed to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

On Monday night, the central government announced putting 30 states and Union territories, covering a total of 548 districts in the country, under complete lockdown due to coronavirus, according to officials.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to nine on Monday, while the number of confirmed cases soared to 468, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases are 424 now and 35 people have been cured/discharged/migrated, while nine have died, taking total number of confirmed cases to 468, including 40 foreign nationals, according to data.