Amid surge in COVID cases, Haryana schools to remain shut till November 30

Amid the rising cases of COVID-19 among schoolchildren in Haryana, the state government on Friday announced that all schools would remain closed till November 30. In an order, the Directorate of State Education also said that the schools will be sanitised regularly to prevent the spread of the disease and maintain hygiene.

As many as 174 students and 107 teachers tested positive for the deadly coronavirus in just over a fortnight after schools reopened in the state for higher classes.

Schools had reopened after eight months for classes 9 to 12 on November 2. Nearly 1.58 lakh students out of a total 6 lakh student population were attending the classes across the state everyday.

All the infected students are from government schools in three districts in the state. The state follows Maharashtra capital Mumbai, which also closed down schools today under the jurisdiction of the city's civic body, till December 31 amid rising COVID-19 cases. The schools were earlier scheduled to reopen on Monday.

The strict measures come on a day the country crossed the 90-lakh mark for coronavirus cases. India has reported 45,882 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours pushing its cumulative tally to 90,04,365, data from the Union Health Ministry showed on Friday. The total number of deaths in the country due to the infection stands at 1,32,162.

With 17,63,055 confirmed cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-hit, followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Meanwhile, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij was administered a trial dose of Covaxin, an under trial vaccine for COVID-19, at a hospital in Ambala on Friday. "It is a matter of pride for us that India has developed vaccine for a deadly virus. I have volunteered so that others too, come forward to volunteer without any fear," Vij said. Vij had offered to be the first volunteer for the third phase trial of Covaxin, which started in the state on Friday.