Coronavirus Outbreak: Andhra Pradesh Election Commission Postpones Local Body Polls, Health Ministry Issues Advisory to Hospitals to Set up Isolation Wards; All Updates Here

New Delhi/Hyderabad, March 15: Amid the coronavirus outbreak in India, Andhra Pradesh Election Commission on Sunday postponed the local body polls for six months. The apex election conducting body in the state has put polls on hold for now, which was supposed to go for polls in multiple phases. Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry has issued an advisory asking civil hospitals, medical colleges to set up isolation wards.

Informing about the latest development, Andhra Pradesh Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar said, as quoted by news agency ANI, "We have decided to postpone the local body polls for six weeks in the wake of #coronavirus spread. New dates will be announced once the spread of the virus is contained." Coronavirus Cases Near 100, India Temporarily Shuts Kartarpur Corridor to Prevent COVID-19 Spread.

Here's the ANI tweet:

Andhra Pradesh Election Commissioner N Ramesh Kumar: We have decided to postpone the local body polls for six weeks in the wake of spread. New dates will be announced once the spread of the virus is contained.

슬롯사이트� ANI (@ANI)

Apart from this, Union Minister of State of Health Ashwini Choubey said that the government has issued an advisory asking civil hospitals and medical colleges to set up isolation wards. He said, "The govt has issued an advisory asking civil hospitals and medical colleges to set up isolation wards. We are trying our best to contain spread of coronavirus which has spread to 12 states."

Following the footsteps of several states, Karnataka state education minister S Suresh Kumar has instructed instructed to postpone the examinations of 7th, 8th and 9th classes until March 31, 2020. Similar move was taken by the Uttar Pradesh government.

As per the latest updates, India has reported at least 93 confirmed cases of COVID-19 or coronavirus so far. As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced a temporary closure of the Kartarpur corridor. The travel and registration for Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan are temporarily suspended from 12 am March 16, 2020, till further orders.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2020 11:54 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).