Mumbai shuts schools again for classes 1-9 till January 31 as Covid spreads fast

Schools will remain closed for classes 1 to 9 in Mumbai till January 31 in view of the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases, the city’s civic body said on Monday.

Classes will continue as scheduled for classes 10 and 12, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, adding online mode of classes will continue.

Students belonging to the age group of 15 to 18 will be called to schools only for vaccination against the coronavirus, the BMC said.

The city civic body’s decision came a day after the city reported a huge spike of 8,063 new Covid-19 cases, largely attributed to the new Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant. Latest data from the BMC showed that 89 per cent (7,176) patients were asymptomatic and the city still had only 10 per cent of the total hospital beds occupied. The active caseload stood at 29,819.

School had reopened in Mumbai on December 15 for classes 1 to 7 after remaining shut for more than 20 months due to the pandemic. It was initially planned to be reopened on December 4, however, was postponed due to the advent of the much dreaded Omicron variant in the country.

The decision to shut schools came on a day when the country’s immunisation programme was thrown open to children between 15 and 18 years of age. State health minister Rajesh Tope on Monday urged the Centre to include children above 12 years of age in the inoculation drive.

“We have congratulated the central government for starting the vaccination of the 15-18 age group. But, at the same time we have placed some demands to tackle the virus spread. We have urged the central government to also undertake the vaccination of children in the 12 to 15 age group,” news agency PTI quoted Tope as saying.

On Sunday, Maharashtra reported 50 new Omicron cases taking the state’s tally to 510. Of the new cases, 36 were reported from Pune City, eight from Pimpri Chinchwad and two cases each from Pune Rural and Sangli districts. Mumbai and Thane added one case each to the state’s tally.

So far, the state has reported 66,99,868 Covid-19 cases with 11,877 being recorded on Sunday. The death toll reached 141,542 with nine more fatalities.