The Karnataka government has declared indefinite holiday for all schools in Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru Urban until further notice. This was announced by Medical Education Minister Sudhakar at a press meet on Monday. The announcement comes in the wake of Bengaluru's first coronavirus case. A techie in his 40s, who had returned from Austin, Texas in the US, has tested positive.
On Sunday night, the government had declared holiday for nursery classes. The indefinite shutdown came in light of positive cases being detected in nearby states. The decision was taken on the advice of Karnataka Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey. "Today, we already declared holiday for LKG and pre-KG. We are also inclined to announce that from tomorrow, there will be holiday for schools for students till class 5," the minister said.
"Further to the advice received from the health commissioner, holidays have been declared for LKG/UKG classes in Bengaluru North, South & Rural Districts,” tweeted minister for primary and secondary school education S Suresh Kumar.
KG Jagadeesha, the Commissioner for Public Instruction, told TNM that students of class fifth will also not have classes or exams. This confirmation came after confusion caused due to conflicting media reports.
All primary classes in BBMP , Bangalore Urban and Bangalore Rural dist. to be suspended and holidays for those children till further orders.(as decided in the meeting chaired by Chief Secretary)
— S.Suresh Kumar, Minister - Govt of Karnataka (@nimmasuresh) March 9, 2020
According to the Karnataka government, 982 people were identified for observation in the state of which 266 people have completed 28 days of observation. A total of 432 samples have been sent for testing of which 364 samples have tested negative. The government is waiting for 68 more results.
Till date 91,911 passengers have been screened in Karnataka. The details of points of entry are as follows.
1. KIA Airport Bengaluru -61,585 passengers cumulative (4155 Screened yesterday)
2. Mangalore International airport-25,003 passengers cumulative. (623 Screened yesterday)
3. Also, 5,323 passengers have been screened at Mangalore and Karwar sea port.