Kerala education minister V Sivankutty has said that the state is not looking at shutting down its schools at the moment. The minister further apprised that if positive cases start increasing, expert opinion will be taken.
Since the re-opening of the schools from November, the state government has been quite vigilant regarding the situation ensuring smooth offline classes, added the minister.
The minister had, a few days ago, ruled out any chances of postponement of SSLC and Plus Two examinations following the rising trend of Omicron’s graph.
According to sources, the state so far has reported 280 cases caused by the Omicron variant of Covid 19 with 50 cases confirmed on Thursday itself. This is the highest single single day count since the first case of Omicron variant was detected in the state. The total number of daily Covid cases has, however, crossed 5000.
Neighbouring states Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has already ordered shutting down of their schools after there was a steep surge in the number of Covid cases all over the country and hence there was a pressure on Kerala as well. But the experts in the state said that night curfew would not do any good as movement during the night time was limited in Kerala.
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Tamil Nadu government has also ordered Sunday lockdowns and imposed new restrictions on educational institutions and places of worship.
Minister Sivankutty has asked people to continue to be careful. “The time is not right to lower our vigil. We have to ensure Covid-appropriate behavior strictly,” said the minister adding the state is well prepared with enough oxygen stock and beds. Experts have warned that Omicron cases would peak in the state in two months.
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