Coronavirus: Delhi govt's Maharishi Valmiki Hospital suspends biometric attendance

New Delhi: A Delhi government hospital has suspended biometric attendance for its employees as a "precautionary measure" after many of them complained of "psychological unease" over the coronavirus scare, a senior official said on Monday. The order to suspend biometric attendance at the Maharishi Valmiki Hospital was issued recently after many employees "expressed concern" over its usage, he said.

The attendance is now being marked manually till further orders, the official said, adding that the measure has been taken to offer "psychological ease" to employees as they are aware of coronavirus and how it spreads. The February 14 official order was internally released by authorities "in view of the coronavirus threat".

"Many employees had approached authorities as the coronavirus outbreak in China and its scare in many other countries are playing on the minds of people. The step has been taken to offer psychological ease to people," the official told PTI. A senior official in the Delhi health department also said it was an "internal order".

The Delhi government on February 5 had issued a health advisory on the novel coronavirus (nCov) and prescribed do's and dont's for the public to ward off any infection. A round-the-clock control room has also been set up at the Directorate General of Health Services' headquarters and in the 11 districts to address queries related to the virus.

Seventeen Delhi residents, out of a large number of passengers who had arrived here from China and other coronavirus-affected countries before the screening at the airport began around mid-January, have been found symptomatic for the infection and hospitalised, officials earlier said. In its health advisory, the Delhi government had asked people to exercise caution, like cleaning hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub; covering nose and mouth while coughing; sneezing using tissue; avoiding close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms; avoiding frozen meat, besides isolation of symptomatic patients for at least 14 days.

Among the do's prescribed to people, the government asked them to frequently wash hands with soap and water; avoid crowded places; stay more than an arm's length distance from persons sick with flu; take adequate sleep and rest; and drink plenty of water and consume liquid diet and eat nutritious food, the advisory said. It also asked people to avoid frozen meat and shake hands while greeting in public instead of hugging, and not touch surfaces usually used by the public such as railings, door gates, avoid smoking in public places; and not go for unnecessary testing.