Delhi govt to issue Covid-19 guidelines for schools amid surge in cases

The Arvind Kejriwal government on Friday will issue COVID-19 guidelines for schools amid concerns over the rise in coronavirus cases in the national capital.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia made the statement on Thursday after a teacher and a student of a private school in South Delhi were found COVID-19 positive, following which, other students who were in the same class were sent home.

It assumes importance as the schools started to function fully offline from April 1 after all the curbs related to COVID were lifted on February 28 considering the low positivity rate.

"COVID cases have slightly increased but there is no rise in hospitalisation, so we need not worry. There is no need to panic but stay alert. Since COVID is there, we have to learn to live with it. We are constantly monitoring the situation. A general guideline to be introduced for schools tomorrow," said Sisodia.

Delhi on Thursday reported 325 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours with a case positivity rate of 2.39 per cent. There was an increase in COVID-19 cases compared to Wednesday. The national capital yesterday saw 299 new COVID-19 cases with a daily positivity rate of 2.49 per cent.

Speaking on the fees hike in school, the Delhi Minister said that the government has not allowed Delhi schools to increase their fees since 2015, and now private schools have been allowed to increase their fees only to 2 to 3 per cent.

Since 2015 we didn't permit the private schools to increase fees and continued till 2020 in wake of COVID. But now we have allowed very limited schools to increase by 2-3 per cent," he said, adding that if there are schools increasing fees on their own, action will be taken against them.