Bengal Govt Shuts Schools And Colleges As COVID Cases Surge

Kolkata: In the wake of the current COVID-19 situation, Bengal Chief Secretary on Sunday announced that all schools, colleges and other educational institutions in the state will be closed tomorrow onwards.

According to an official statement, the decision to close educational institution was taken after reviewing the current COVID situation in the state and spreading of omicron.

"All academic activities in schools, colleges and universities shall remain closed. Only administrative activities shall be permitted with 50% of employees at a time," the government order reads.

With this decision, the Bengal become the second state in the state to completely shut down educational institution this month. Before Bengal, Delhi government had decided to close all educational institution to contain the spread of omicron variant.

Dwivedi informed that CM Mamata Banerjee had already said that some restrictions would be imposed. Flights coming from Britain have been banned since Monday. 10 percent RT-PCR test will be done for passengers of flights coming from risky countries and RAT test will be made compulsory for passengers coming from other countries.

He further said that only 50 percent will be present in all offices, government and private. All swimming police, spas and beauty parlors will remain closed. Tourist places, zoos, cinema halls will remain closed and 50 percent attendance has been fixed in shopping malls.

Apart from school and colleges, there will also be a restriction on government and private offices as they will operate with only 50 percent staff.

Meanwhile, public places like zoos and cinema halls will remain closed and 50 percent attendance has been fixed in shopping malls.

There will also be 50 percent attendance in meetings, halls and conferences. On the other hand, the local train will run with 50 per cent capacity and will run till 7 pm. Metro will also run with 50 percent capacity.

Night curfew will be in force from 10 am to 5 pm.

On Saturday, West Bengal reported 4,512 new COVID-19 cases. The number of active cases in the state is 13,300 which is the third-highest in the country after Maharashtra and Kerala.

Also read:COVID Vaccination For 15-18 Age Group To Begin Tomorrow, Know How To Register On CoWIN App

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