Omicron scare: Maharashtra govt may close schools if cases rise, says education minister

The state government, Varsha Gaikwad said, is ‘monitoring the situation closely.’

With cases of Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant on the rise, Maharashtra school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Wednesday that schools in the state may be shut down if the number of patients in the state, infected with the latest strain, continue to increase.

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Schools in Maharashtra reopened fully only on December 1.

“If Omicron cases continue to rise, we may take a call to shut the schools again. We're monitoring the situation,” Gaikwad said, according to news agency ANI.

Physical classes for schools in the western state resumed from the first day of the month for standards 1-7 in the urban areas and 1-4 in the rural areas. This followed resumption of physical lectures, on October 4, for students in classes 8-12 in the urban regions, and classes 4-12 in the rural ones.

Maharashtra has, till, now detected at least 65 cases of the B.1.1.529 variant, 11 of which were confirmed on Tuesday. Of the fresh infections, four were found at the Mumbai airport during surveillance screening. The city has the highest number of Omicron cases in the state, at 30, followed by Pimpri-Chinchwad (12) and Pune (10).

The remaining patients, meanwhile, were found in Satara and Osmanabad (three each), Kalyan-Dombivli (2) and one each in Buldhana, Nagpur, Latur and Vasai-Virar.

Nationally, at least 213 cases of the Omicron variant has been reported thus far, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. These have been reported from 15 states and Union territories.