Mumbai’s municipal body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, on Thursday sealed St Joseph’s boarding school and orphanage after 16 children and six adults there tested positive for Covid-19, the Hindustan Times reported.
Four of the 16 children who tested positive are under 12 years old and have been sent to the paediatrics unit at Nair Hospital in Mumbai. The 12 others and six adults were taken to a jumbo Covid-19 care facility in Byculla, Mumbai.
They tested positive at a fever camp organised by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The corporation has been routinely conducting Covid drives in areas with a large number of cases.
The incident comes while the Maharashtra government is working towards reopening schools.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday had said that a circular was sent to every district collector to ensure that both teaching and non-teaching staff at schools are vaccinated, The Indian Express reported.
“Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the state paediatric Covid task force will review the situation and then we will take a final decision about reopening of schools,” Tope said.
Guidelines were issued in lieu of schools starting from August 17, stating that those in rural areas could reopen for classes 5 to 12, while schools in cities could reopen for classes 8 to 12.
The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization’s Working Group Chief Dr NK Arora on Wednesday had said that it was time for schools to reopen in a phased manner. He said teachers, non-teaching staff, parents and other family members of school students should get vaccinated against Covid-19.
The Centre on Wednesday asked the states to vaccinate all school teachers against Covid-19 on priority before September 5. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said that states had been allotted over 2 crore additional vaccine doses in August to expedite the inoculation drive.
Schools are slated to reopen in Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Gujarat in the first week of September. Only certain classes will operate at 50% capacity.
Karnataka reopened school for classes 9 to 12 from August 23 in districts with less than 2% positivity rate, The Indian Express reported. Teachers who have taken at least one vaccine dose have been allowed to attend.
Delhi’s Disaster Management Authority has allowed schools in the city to reopen partially for students of Classes 10 and 12 from August 9. Punjab also allowed all classes to operate from August 2.
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