Schools in Himachal Pradesh gets closed till Aug 22

Himachal Pradesh schools were opened on August 2 and with an increasing number of Covid-19 cases also among the children, the government immediately shut down all educational institutions except residential schools which have been instructed to strictly follow standard operating procedures.

Himachal Pradesh's cases are going up with the positivity rate at 1.9%. The Covid-19 cases are already more than 2,300 within a fortnight. Himachal Pradesh reported 16 deaths in this month itself and the total death toll of the state has reached 3,521. The state reported the highest single-day spike in cases with 419 fresh cases.

The decision to shut schools till August 22 was taken in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The meeting was called by Chief Minister Jairam Thakur to review the pandemic situation in the state. 

"We have taken this decision as a precautionary step due to fears of the third wave and reports that a lot of students coming to the schools have got infected. If the school remains open for more time, it will be a bad situation as data presented by the health department suggests," state Education Minister Govind Thakur said.

The state has decided that the tourists coming from other states must show a negative RT PCR report or proof of vaccination doses as the state is witnessing a huge increase in the number of pilgrims comings to Himachal's shrines and temples. 

As a precautionary step, the government is all set to restrict occupancy to 50 per cent in public transports from August 13.

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