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COVID-19 surge: Offline classes for students from I to IX shut until further notice

Online classes will continue

16-vijay-rupani Vijay Rupani | Janak Patel

Amid continued surge in COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, the state government, on Saturday, decided to suspend offline classes for students from standard I to IX. The decision was taken at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar.

A government spokesperson said classes will remain suspended till further orders. This will apply to all schools, both government and private. Online classes will continue.

The decision comes on a day when Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who is also the health minister, said the state government is not considering a lockdown. Patel, who was in Vadodara, said he requested the people to support the steps taken by the state government from time to time to curb the spread of the pandemic. He admitted that there is a spike in the number of cases, even as he pointed out that cases have increased across the country.

In the past few days, Vadodara has witnessed high number of cases, and the opposition Congress has demanded that adequate arrangements should be made to treat the patients.

In last 24 hours ending at 5pm on Saturday, Gujarat recorded 2,815 new cases, taking the total number of cases to 3,15,563. With 13 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, the toll has risen to 4,552. As many as 2,96,713 people have recovered from the pandemic.

The recent spike in cases in the state is being attributed to civic elections and T20 cricket matches.

Meanwhile, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) witnessed over 100 positive cases. Five of its students, who had gone to watch T20 matches at Narendra Modi Stadium, had tested positive and had not declared their status.

Several politicians of the state have also tested positive in the last few days—the latest one being Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, who has been admitted to the hospital.

Testing has been intensified and vaccination camps for those above 45 years are being organised to battle the increasing number of cases.

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