Visiting hours at hospitals suspended

The Uttarakhand government on Monday ordered suspension of visiting hours for friends and relatives of patients at private and government hospitals to prevent crowding as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.

Secretary in-charge of Medical, Health and Medical Education Department, Pankaj Kumar Pandey wrote to all district magistrates and chief medical officers asking them to suspend the hours earmarked for visitors to meet patients at private and government hospitals in their areas.

It should be done to prevent crowding and large gatherings in public places to contain the spread of coronavirus which is acquiring the proportions of an international public health crisis, Pandey said in the letter.

Coronavirus has already been declared an epidemic in Uttarakhand which reported its first case of the deadly virus on Sunday with a forest officer under training at the FRI testing positive.