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Schools in Pune district to remain shut till next week: Ajit Pawar
Currently, Pune’s weekly positivity rate stands at 40%. Pune district on Friday reported 16,459 cases which was higher than the peak of the second wave which reported 12,385 cases on April 17 in 2021
PUNE As the Covid-19 positivity rate is higher than the state average and is increasing continuously, it has been decided to keep schools closed in Pune district, said Ajit Pawar, Pune district guardian minister, after the Covid-19 review meeting held in the city on Saturday.
According to Pawar, the decision to reopen school will be taken next week on Friday or Saturday when the situation will be reviewed again.
Currently, Pune’s weekly positivity rate stands at 40%. Pune district on Friday reported 16,459 cases which was higher than the peak of the second wave which reported 12,385 cases on April 17 in 2021. The progressive count stood at 13,15,570 lakh Covid-19 cases. Out of this, 1,216,470 patients have recovered. There has been a total of 20,254 deaths in the district, and at present, there are 78,846 active cases.
MPs, MLAs from the district, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad mayor, divisional commissioner, district collector and various office bearers were present for the meeting.
“It has been decided to keep schools closed in Pune district till next week. Authorities will meet next week and take the review of the situation and then decide on the reopening of schools,” he said.
Pawar was earlier of the opinion to reopen schools in Pune though both mayors of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad along with officials from administration informed about the ground situation as cases are rising. The experts too asked for restraining, following which the decision to defer school reopening was taken.
“The cases in Mumbai are coming down though, in Pune, the current situation is opposite. We have not yet hit the peak and every day the cases are inching up. Experts in this field have said at least this trend will continue for next few days and later the trend will start to bring down the cases,” said Pawar.
The state government has decided to start offline classes between Classes 1 to 10 from January 24, though local administration will take a final call on this depending on the ground situation in various parts.
Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said, “We presented the current Covid figures before the guardian minister and requested to not reopen schools.”
