Uttar Pradesh: Schools for students up to Class 8 shut till April 4 amidst rising COVID-19 cases

LUCKNOW: Amid a spike in coronavirus cases, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday extended to April 4 the closure of all schools for students up to Class 8, according to an official.

Earlier, the state government had shut schools for students up to Class 8 till March 31.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued the fresh directions during a review meeting at his 5-Kalidas Marg residence here.

The CM has directed the closure of schools for students up to Class 8 till April 4, an official spokesperson said, adding that it has been ordered to ensure that the COVID-19 protocol is followed for other classes.

The chief minister also instructed the officials to accelerate the coronavirus vaccination.

He said the vaccination should be conducted as per the guidelines and priority decided by the Centre and added that government employees who are to be inoculated should be allowed an off on the day they get the jab.

The CM said similar arrangements for leave for private-sector workers should also be made.

He asked the officials to step up testing with a focus on old-age homes, orphanages, residential schools and other such places.

Adityanath said the dedicated COVID hospitals set up earlier should be reactivated.

The state reported 10 COVID-19 fatalities on Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 8,800, while 918 new cases took the infection tally to 6,15,996.

Four deaths were reported from Lucknow, two from Kanpur and one each from Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Unnao and Auraiya, a health bulletin issued here said.

The bulletin said the state has so far tested over 3.47 crore samples for COVID-19, including 64,519 on Monday.