New Delhi, March 13 Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said the Delhi government has decided to stop all sports events, including the IPL, conferences and seminars in the national capital, in view of the coronavirus outbreak across the country.
Sisodia said these events are banned as they are attended by a large number of people. He said social distancing is the most effective way to stop spread of the virus.
"We are urging people to avoid large gatherings as much as possible," said Sisodia.
He said to maintain social distancing, it is important to avoid any big event which witnesses huge public gatherings.
"The IPL and such sports events witness huge gatherings, therefore, we have decided to stop such events with an immediate effect till the further order," said Sisodia.
Stressing on the need to contain this disease by adopting preventive measures, he advised people to avoid any large gatherings.
"I want to tell everyone to not wait for the government orders but to proactively avoid any big gathering. The government is doing their best but to stop the spread of coronavirus, mutual cooperation of the people and the government is very important," Sisodia said.
Speaking about Korea, he said the coronavirus was contained for the first 30 cases.
"Patient 31 was a super-spreader who passed it to thousands of other people. In order to prevent instances like this, the Delhi government has ordered that no big gatherings should take place but if you find any such gatherings where people are coming from different places then please avoid such venues. We believe that such strict preventive steps are the only way to stop this disease and many other countries are following such steps."
He announced that all sports gatherings and seminars would be put on hold till further notice.
He said the DMs and the SDMs have also been directed to keep a close watch on the possible spread of the virus in their respective areas.
The order from the Delhi Health Department says "all sports gathering, including IPL, conferences and seminars beyond 200 people are prohibited in Delhi for the purpose of prevention and control of the outbreak of epidemic disease namely COVID-19."
Sisodia said all need to work together to check the spread of the disease. There have been six cases of COVID-19 in Delhi.
"We all have to fight this together. Right now, social distancing is the biggest solution," he said. He said even if one person is the carrier of the disease, it will spread.
The order came a day after the Delhi government shut all cinema halls and public swimming pools along with schools and colleges.
( With inputs from IANS )