The Haryana government has asked private schools to not collect fees during the lockdown period.

The government has 'banned all types of fee collection with immediate effect', an official statement said in Chandigarh on Friday.

Haryana School Education Department has directed all district education officers and district primary education officers of the state to apprise private schools in their respective areas about the directions of the state government.

'All educational institutions across the state have been closed till further orders with a view to preventing the spread of Covid-19, however, it has come to the notice that some private schools are pressuring parents to deposit the fees immediately,' the statement said.

The fees will be collected only after the situation is normal and the schools reopen, it said.

Meanwhile, cases of coronavirus have risen to 43 in Haryana, with Nuh and Gurugram being among the districts to report fresh cases, officials said.

As per the Health Department's bulletin, three persons who were found Covid-19 positive are natives of Kerala while two others in Gurugram hail from Maharashtra. One more person who tested positive in Gurugram belongs to Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing media via digital link, additional chief secretary (health) Rajiv Arora said, 'total number of positive cases as of Friday morning was 43. Out of total number of positive cases, 13 have been discharged'.

Additional chief secretary (home) Vijai Vardhan and DGP Manoj Yadava were also present.

Among the 30 active cases, six are from Gurugram, five from Faridabad, three from Ambala, one from Hisar, three from Nuh, three from Palwal, two from Panipat, two from Panchkula, one from Rohtak, three from Sirsa and one from Sonipat, he said.

Haryana recorded its first Covid-19 death on Thursday when a 67-year-old man from Ambala, who as per doctors had multiple underlying health conditions, passed away at the PGIMER.

Arora detailed the steps which the health department is taking to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state.

We have already set up a round-the-clock helpline cum control room which has been attached with telemedicine services for people who are not able to avail of services of doctors, Arora said.

He said in the government sector, one laboratory is functional at PGIMS at Rohtak and another one in Sonipat.

We are also in the process of setting up labs in Nuh, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak and Panchkula, he said and added that the government has already given permission to five private laboratories in Gurugram for testing.

The state, he said, has 7,346 isolation beds for Covid patients.