Delhi schools, gyms to reopen; single drivers in cars exempt from mask

Delhi night curfew will continue but with a breather of 1 hour starting from 11pm instead of 10pm. Offices will be allowed to function with 100% attendance.

Schools and gyms in the national capital will be allowed to reopen, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority has decided at a meeting on Friday. Single drivers in cars will also be exempt from wearing a mask, the DDMA has decided. While gyms will be allowed to open with some restrictions, educational institutions will reopen in phases. From February 7, physical classes will begin for students of classes 9 to 12. Night curfew will continue in the Capital but with a concession for one hour starting from 11pm instead of 10pm. Offices will be allowed to function with 100% attendance.

DDMA has decided to resume physical classes in a phased manner starting from coming Monday. (Representative image) (PTI)

All restaurants in Delhi can now remain open till 11pm. Physical classes for nursery to class 8 will resume from February 14. Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said hybrid classes will continue; while colleges will be asked to discourage online classes and have offline classes instead. Unvaccinated teachers will not be permitted.

After DDMA gave the nod to withdraw the weekend curfew in the city last week, Friday's meeting was to discuss further reopening. Reopening of schools, gyms and lifting of the night curfew were on the agenda, On Thursday, the health ministry and the education ministry gave a go-ahead to reopen schools, authorising the state governments to take the final call of the date of reopening schools.

The phase-wise reopening comes as the number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic.

Gym owners of Delhi have been pressing for the reopening of around 5,500 gyms in Delhi which employs around 1 lakh people. Recently, hundreds of gym owners took out a protest march to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence with their demand that this sector has been neglected.

7 decisions taken at the DDMA meeting on Friday

1. Schools will reopen from Monday (February 7) for classes 9-12. Physical classes for nursery to 8 will resume from next Monday (February 14). Hybrid classes will continue as of now but going forward there will be no online classes.

2. Colleges, coaching institutes, ITIs will reopen from February 7. There will be no online classes

3. Night curfew will be there but will start from 11pm instead of 10pm

4. Restaurants will be allowed to remain open till 11pm

5. All offices can function at 110% capacity

6. Gym, spa, swimming pool, exhibition centre will reopen

7. Not mandatory for solo drivers in cars to wear a mask.