UT bars students from taking part in Carnival events

Every year,around 7,000-8,000 students perform various activities in the carnival. “Be it the fascinating parade or children dressed in colourful costumes and performing cultural programmes,all events have been barred for schoolchildren this year. The show is now being taken care of by the North Zone Cultural Centre and other organisations,” Niwas added.

In the last couple of months,several cases of schoolchildren testing positive of swine flu have been reported in the tricity,following which educational institutes,including Punjab Engineering College,St John’s,Sacred Heart,Ryan International etc,suspended their classes for upto a week.

Reacting sharply to the closure of educational institutes,Niwas added: “The administration has not directed any school to close down or suspend classes. In fact,the schools are closing down on their own and it is creating more panic among residents. We merely issued advisories to the schools,asking them to quarantine students who showed flu-like symptoms. If children show the symptoms,parents are advised to keep them at home and report to our nodal officers. Our teams will take care of them. And if the child is infected with the virus,he or she will be treated.”

While the administration has advised the schools not to organise or allow any large-scale functions involving schoolchildren in the carnival,its decision to go ahead with the event has raised questions.

However,top UT officials claim that cancelling the carnival will create more panic. “There is no point cancelling the carnival and throwing life out of gear. The scare of swine flu is even more in New Delhi,yet the trade fair is on,where lakhs of people visit daily. People can’t be confined to their homes due to the fear of swine flu,” said a senior UT official.

“If the child is down with flu-like symptoms,the parents should not bring him to the carnival. The situation is not alarming. We have so far got H1N1 120 positive cases,of whom 118 patients have already been treated,” Niwas added.

Another Mohali student tests positive
MOHALI: A 16-year-old girl of Mohali,a student of Vivek High School in Sector 38,Chandigarh,on Thursday tested positive for H1N1 virus,said Dr Deepak Bhatia,nodal officer swine flu in Punjab,taking the total number of positive students in the school to four. The student is from Class XII and the class has been suspended for a week. H S Mamik,the director of the school,said all the affected students had gone to Jalandhar last week on a personal trip and after returning,they tested positive. Mamik added that while the classes of that particular section would be suspended till Saturday,the decision on its resumption will be taken after consulting the doctors. The number of persons affected has reached 18 in Mohali and 61 in Punjab,said Dr Bhatia.

On Wednesday,a nine-year-old boy of Mohali,who had tested positive for swine flu,was also the student of Vivek High School. So far,three persons have died of swine flu in Punjab,including two women in Mohali and a man in Ludhiana. – ENS