NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, DEC 31
Gujarat reported 654 fresh COVID cases, including 16 of Omicron variant, in the last 24 hours, taking the state’s tally to 8,31,732, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,118, the state health department informed on Friday. Fresh infections have pushed the total tally of new variant to 113.
So far, 8,18,652 people have recovered from the infection, including 63 on Friday, leaving the state with an active caseload of 2,962, with 17 patients being on ventilator support, he said.
As many as 8.94 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the state so far, of which 1.88 lakh were given during the day, a government release informed.
Three new COVID-19 cases were recorded in adjoining Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in the last 24 hours, said an official release.
The active tally is three in the Union Territory, which has a caseload of 10,666, including four deaths, and recovery count of 10,659.
School union urges CM to discontinue offline classes
Concerned about the rise in COVID-19 cases, an association of schools in Gujarat on Friday urged Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to consider discontinuing offline education at schools in a phased manner.
Though the state government has not declared any data about infected students so far, a rough estimate suggests that over 200 have contracted COVID-19 in the last few months, said Bhaskar Patel, the president of the Gujarat State School Administrators’ Federation.
In the letter, the federation expressed concern about the sudden rise in coronavirus cases and emergence of Omicron variant in Gujarat in the last few days.
Following a significant fall in new infections, the Gujarat government had first allowed physical reopening of higher secondary and secondary schools from July and later gave a go ahead to the offline lessons for Classes 6 to 8.
The Federation also drew the chief minister’s attention to incidents of teaching and non-teaching staff of some schools also getting infected.
“We urge the government to monitor the situation for one week and consider stopping offline education for Classes 1 to 5 from January 10. If the situation gets worse, a similar decision should be taken for Classes 6 to 11 in subsequent weeks. This will help us in fighting the possible third wave of the pandemic,” the federation stated in the letter.
Since students in the 15 to 18 age group are eligible for vaccination against coronavirus, children under the age of 15 are more vulnerable to infection if they keep visiting school, Patel said.
COVID curbs to continue till January 7
In view of the rising cases of Omicron variant, the Gujarat government extended the COVID restrictions in the state till January 7. Earlier, the curbs were imposed till December 31. An announcement to this effect was made by State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel.
