Officials to ‘stamp’ suspected coronavirus patients undergoing home quarantine
People who are advised to be home quarantined will now get inked at the back of the palm and their ‘badge of honour’ will serve as a constant reminder for 14 days, the BMC said
In a bold move, the Maharashtra Government has decided to stamp the left hand of people undergoing home quarantine for suspected exposure to the novel coronavirus.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and attended by district officials through video-conferencing, the state government said in an official release.
“People who are advised to be #HomeQuarantined will now #GetInked at the back of the palm. This #BadgeOfHonour will serve as a constant reminder, for 14 days. For others, gets easy to spot & remind to return home. One worry less!,” the BMC said.
#LimitContacts#SecondLineOfDefence
People who are advised to be #HomeQuarantined will now #GetInked at the back of the palm.
This #BadgeOfHonour will serve as a constant reminder, for 14 days. For others, gets easy to spot & remind to return home. One worry less!#NaToCorona https://t.co/PE1KPOTYgf pic.twitter.com/3VU1hAh9Mm
— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) March 16, 2020
“Ink for the #BadgeOfHonour will be the indelible ink that is used to mark voters during elections. In addition to the back of the hand, we may add other variants too,” it added.
With 39 confirmed cases and one death, Maharashtra is the Indian state worst-hit by the global pandemic.
As per protocol, people arriving from coronavirus outbreak-affected regions are being put under home quarantine as a precautionary measure while their samples are sent for tests.
The statement urged people to send their complaints or requests through e-mails rather than visiting government offices for redressal of grievances.
The district administrations have been told to take a call on the requests in these e-mails within seven days, it said.
In another development, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray announced that universities in the state have decided to postpone exams till March 31.
“After risk assessments, the Higher and Technical Ministry has decided to postpone all university exams, in its jurisdiction, to a date later than March 31, 2020. All educational institutes must, therefore, observe a complete temporary closure till further notice. #Corona,” he tweeted.
Thackeray, in another tweet, also lauded Mirage Hotel and ITC hotel for opening their doors to travellers that will be compulsorily isolated for 24 hours on arrival in Mumbai.
In a related development, police successfully managed to trace 11 suspected coronavirus patients who ran away from the government hospital in Navi Mumbai last week.
All 11 had escaped the hospital on Sunday and were traced with the help of police. They have been admitted to Gram Vikas Bhavan and are under the constant supervision of doctors.
