Schools will reopen in Maharashtra from October 4: Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad

Gaikwad said that the Covid-19 task force and the state health department have also approved the decision to reopen schools in the state.

Schools will open in a phased manner. Classes will resume for students of classes 5 to 12 in rural areas and for classes 8 to 12 in urban areas. The Maharashtra government is making efforts to bring the children back to schools. He said that powers have also been given to the local officials.

Maharashtra had earlier formed a committee to lay down guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for reopening schools.

Suggested SOPs include staggering school hours, social distancing inside classrooms, setting up of school health clinics, etc. Cleaning of schools, entry of students, wearing of masks are among the mandatory protocols.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra reported 3,320 COVID-19 cases and 61 deaths on Thursday, taking its infection tally to 65,34,557 and the toll to 1,38,725, a health department official said. With 4,050 patients being discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, the number of recoveries rose to 63,53,079.

The state now has 39,191 active cases. The official said that 2,61,842 people are in home quarantine in the state and another 1,461 are in institutional quarantine. The state’s COVID-19 recovery rate now stands at 97.22 per cent, while the death rate stands at 2.12 per cent.

He said the cumulative number of coronavirus tests conducted in the state rose to 5,76,46,515 as 1,70,373 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

No new cases of infection were reported in eight districts – Dhule, Bhandara, Hingoli, Gondia, Nanded, Akola, Amravati and Chandrapur. Similarly, Jalgaon, Parbhani and Chandrapur Municipal Corporations (urban areas) also did not report any case in the last 24 hours.

Ahmednagar district reported the highest number of new infections at 577, followed by Mumbai city at 498. Satara district recorded the highest number of 13 deaths in the state during the day. Of the eight zones in the state, the Pune region recorded the highest number of new cases at 1,159, followed by the Mumbai region with 1,050.

Nashik region recorded 700 new cases, Kolhapur 251, Latur 104, Aurangabad 27, Nagpur 17 and Akola region 12 new cases.

According to the official, out of the 61 fresh deaths, 28 were from Pune region, followed by 11 from Nashik and nine from Kolhapur region. Six deaths each were reported in Mumbai and Latur regions, followed by one death in Nagpur region.

However, no death due to the virus has been reported in the last 24 hours in Aurangabad and Akola regions. Mumbai city saw 498 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths, while Pune city reported 182 cases but no fresh deaths.

The official said that out of 39,191 active patients in the state, Pune district has the highest number of 9,807. He said that of the 63,53,079 recorded in the state so far – 11,08,460 – are from Pune district.