Soubhagya Das, a second-year pharmacy student of SRM University, Chennai, reached his hometown in Jamshedpur on Saturday morning and promptly self-quarantined himself for 14 days.

He’s not the only one. This past week has seen hundreds of youngsters return to Jamshedpur as colleges and universities across the country asked students to leave campuses. Most have responsibly preferred self-quarantine to avoid mass contact and curb the spread of the virus.

Though Jharkhand has not registered a single positive case of the novel coronavirus as of now, outstation students back home are telling people not to take the pandemic lightly.

“It’s tough to stay at home but this is the need of the hour,” Soubhagya said. “My mother backed my decision and said this was I least I could do at this time like this,” the youngster who landed in Bhubaneswar from Chennai on Friday and boarded an overnight bus to reach Jamshedpur early on Saturday.

Another student Juni Das, who reached her Bhalubasa home in Jamshedpur on March 16 from Bangalore via Mumbai and Ranchi, has been staying at home. “Direct flights were cancelled, reaching home was quite an ordeal. While on my way back, I decided once I am home, I will go on self-quarantine,” said the student of Christ College, Bangalore.

Juni said she was “either studying for her exams which may take place in April or sleeping, but not watching television”.

“My parents are happy that I am not going out. I’m happy that Jamshedpur is safe. So far, I am not bored. There’s also a sense of doing my duty as a responsible citizen,” she said. “Many of my friends are voluntarily staying at home. We’ve also decided not to spread misinformation and panic on social media.”

Some have cancelled wedding receptions scheduled on Sunday in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a Janata Curfew from 7am to 9pm.

Dimna resident Sudeep Maulik, who was supposed to organise a wedding reception of his daughter Tulika at Sakchi’s Dhalbhum Club on Sunday, cancelled it.

“My daughter got married in Bangalore in February but we had planned a reception here on Sunday for our family and friends. Seeing the situation, we decided to support the Prime Minister,” said Maulik.