Schools in Manipur to resume from Aug. 8

Our Correspondent

Imphal, Aug. 5 (EMN): In view of the importance of education of young children and in order to bring a sense of normalcy in their lives, the authorities in Manipur have decided to resume physical classes for all classes from August 8.

The step has been taken up by the state authority after consulting with the state health department. The Commissioner (Education-Schools) H Gyan Prakash issued a government order in this regard on Friday.

However, the state health department has advised all students and teachers to wear face masks while the school authorities were asked to advise the parents not to send their wards having COVID-19 symptoms. All head of schools have been asked to take necessary steps to vaccinate their teachers fully including the precaution doses.

It may be mentioned that with the continuous rise of COVID-19 positive cases in Manipur and also as a precautionary measure for the health and safety of the children below 12 years of age, the authorities had on July 22 this year decided not to conduct physical classes for children below 12 years of age (that is upto Class VII).

Since then, all the school going children below 12 years of age studying at different private schools across the state, are undergoing online classes till date.

According to the state COVID-19 Common Control Room reports issued on Friday, as many as 46 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours and registered a single day positivity rate of 7.2 per cent.

Of total active cases, 189 are in home isolation. The number of recovered cases in Manipur as on Thursday was 1,36,713 while the recovery rate is 98.18 per cent. The overall caseload in Manipur is 1,39,295. Though no new deaths have been reported, the cumulative death toll since the virus hit the state stands at 2,133.

As per the latest update of the health department on vaccination, 31,18,472 doses including first dose of 16,17,410; second dose of 12,89,581 and precautionary dose of 2,11,481 have been administered in Manipur.

The first COVID 19 positive case in Manipur was reported on March 24, 2020 while the first death case due to the pandemic was reported on July 29 the same year.