COVID: Punjab allows reopening of schools for Classes 10 to 12 from Jul 26

The Punjab government on Tuesday ordered reopening of schools for Classes 10 to 12 from July 26 as it further relaxed Covid curbs.

Besides, the state government also announced to increase the number of people for indoor events to 150 and outdoor programmes to 300, subject to an upper limit of 50 per cent of the capacity of the venue, a statement said.

Earlier, the gathering of 100 persons for indoor and 200 for outdoor events was allowed.

During a Covid review meeting, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said schools will be allowed to open for Classes 10 to 12, but only those teachers and staff will be allowed to be physically present who are fully vaccinated.

The presence of students at schools shall be purely at the consent of parents and the option of virtual classes shall be continued.

An undertaking to this effect shall be submitted to the deputy commissioner concerned, he said, according to the statement.

If the situation remains under control, the remaining classes will similarly be allowed to open from August 2, the CM announced, pointing out that the UK's Cambridge University has predicted that the cases will further decline in the coming weeks.

With respect to social gatherings, the CM said artists or musicians shall be allowed at such functions or celebrations in all areas, with adherence to Covid protocols.

The relaxations came days after the CM had ordered opening of bars, cinema halls, restaurants, spas, swimming pools, coaching centres, sports complexes, gyms, malls, museums and zoos etc. The state government had also earlier allowed colleges, coaching centres and all other institutions of higher learning to open with similar compliance.

The CM during a virtual review meeting said the month-wise whole genome sequencing has shown that the original virus has been replaced by variants and the Delta variant remained predominant even in the month of June.

However, there are no new cases of the Delta Plus variant, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)