In a major development, the Manipur government has announced its decision to close all schools in the state due to rising Covid cases. As per the state government, the decision has been taken keeping in mind the safety, health and well-being of the students. The current test positivity ratio in the state has gone up to 15 percent.
According to the order, all schools, whether it is government, government aided or private, will remain closed. Announcing the decision to close schools, Manipur CM N Biren Singh took to Twitter saying, “With the increasing number of Covid-19 positive cases in the state in the past few days, the Government of Manipur have directed all schools of the state to remain closed till the 24th of this month.”
The official order of the state government also mentioned that a large number of children below 12 years of age have not yet been vaccinated. While this may pose a great threat to the virus, students have carried the infection to their home if schools function as normal. It is because of this reason that the state government decided to close all schools till July 24, 2022.
The state government’s decision to close all schools comes at a time when summer vacations are about to be over. While the summer vacations were to end on July 16, 2022, the same has now been extended till July 24, 2022. Earlier, the state government had already extended the summer vacation from June 20, 2022 to July 15, 2022. The dates for the extension of the summer vacation were taken due to rising cases and an increasing test positivity ratio.
Earlier on Tuesday, a total of 59 persons tested positive. With this, the number of positive cases in the state stood at 1,37,543. According to the health department, no deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
