Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, the state government is gearing up to take a decision on physical classes for children at schools and other educational institutions at a meeting with the COVID-19 taskforce which is to be held on the morning of Tuesday, January 4. Speaking to The News Minute, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh said, “There is a task force meeting tomorrow (Tuesday). Maybe after the meeting, guidelines will be released.”
On Sunday, Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka speaking to reporters in Chikkaballapur, had indicated that “tough rules” could be implemented amid the spike in COVID-19 cases before January 7 which is when the current night curfew will be ending.
Speaking about the safety protocol in schools, BC Nagesh said, “As of now, there are just three things to follow to prevent COVID-19 spread. It is using masks, maintaining physical distance and washing hands frequently. If these are followed, there won't be any issue. Till now, according to our reports, the number of children testing positive for coronavirus are very low. Even though the number of cases are rising, there is no significant rise in cases among children, barring a few outbreaks at residential schools when they reopened.”
Physical classes in schools for classes 1-5 had resumed in October 2021, while physical classes for higher grades had started earlier. Karnataka has been witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases over the last five days, with daily figures crossing the 1,000 mark. This even as 10 more cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus were detected in Karnataka on Sunday, January 2, taking the state's tally to 76.
Karnataka recorded a total of 1,187 new COVID-19 cases out of which 923 cases were from Bengaluru. A total of six deaths were recorded across the state.