Mumbai Schools For Class 1 to 9 To Remain Shut Amid Alarming Rise In Covid Cases

Maharashtra Schools Closed: Classes for students of 1 to 9 and 11 will continue in online mode. Schools had opened in Mumbai on December 15.

Schools had opened in Maharashtra's capital Mumbai on December 15 (PTI file)

New Delhi: Schools in Mumbai will remain closed for classes 1 to 9 and 11 till January 31 in view of rising Covid-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said on Monday. However, schools for class 10 and 12 will continue.

Classes for students of 1 to 9 and 11 will continue in online mode. Schools had opened in Mumbai on December 15.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 vaccination for children in the 15-18 age group began in Maharashtra and other states on Monday. In Mumbai, a girl student was the first to receive a dose of Covaxin at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) Covid centre.

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The drive was virtually launched by Maharashtra Tourism and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray. The vaccination of children is being carried out at nine jumbo Covid-19 centres, BMC said.

The Mumbai civic body has said that along with children from BMC-run schools, vaccines will be given free of cost to children of other schools as well. BMC hopes to vaccinate all the 4.5 lakh children in the city between the ages of 15 to 18 by the end of January.

Mumbai has witnessed a spurt in Covid-19 cases since the second-half of December. On Sunday, Mumbai reported 8,063 new cases, taking the caseload to 7,99,520. The city's overall death toll stood at 16,377.

Maharashtra logged 11,877 new coronavirus cases on Sunday. Out of those, 50 cases were of the new Omicron variant.