Schools, colleges shut in 8 districts of Gujarat till April 10 as Covid-19 surges again

With coronavirus cases surging again, the Gujarat government on Thursday declared shutting down of schools and colleges in eight municipal corporations till April 10. This comes nearly four months after the government permitted educational institutes to resume classes voluntarily.

Education Minister Bhupendra Chudasama announced the decision in Gandhinagar where he said, "Schools and colleges in eight municipal corporations - Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Junagadh, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar - to be shut till April 10 in view of the rising case. All offline examinations stand cancelled." He added that in other regions of the state, schools are at liberty to open or shut schools and colleges. A day before, Gujarat reported 1,122 new cases, the biggest spike since December.

On Thursday, the state reported 1,276 fresh positive cases, the highest since December. With 315 cases, Surat city is leading the chart in the state, followed by Ahmedabad 298 and Vadodara 111 cases.

Also read — India reports over 35,000 Covid-19 cases in a day, highest this year

Earlier this week on Monday, spectators were banned from attending T20 matches between India and England at Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad. This decision was taken by Gujarat Cricket Association after it faced wide criticism for allowing large scale gathering of people in the stadium where mass violation of Covid-19 guidelines was reported.

Similar restrictions have been announced in other cities. In Surat, the local authorities have made it mandatory for anyone coming from out of Gujarat to remain under quarantine for a week.

On Tuesday, the state government extended the night curfew (between 12 AM and 6 AM) for another two weeks and increased the hours by two hours (From 10 PM to 6 AM) in four cities-Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has also shut parks, gardens, zoo, gaming zones and buses in the city.

Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani criticised the move of taking the buses off the road. He tweeted, "AMTS/BRTS buses are the only way of transport for many ppl,specially who commute for earning their livelihood&for students. Suspending thm has created havoc in their lives&given chance to autowalas to loot them. @AmdavadAMC shld consider keeping services on with 50% cap."