COVID-19, Omicron: West Bengal closes schools, colleges, say reports

NEW DELHI: The West Bengal government is shutting all educational institutions from Monday, January 3, 2022. Other offices in the state will be allowed to operate with only a 50 percent workforce. These strict COVID regulations have been initiated due to the rising number of Covid cases across the state, reported the Hindustan Times.

“Only essential services will be functioning between 10 pm and 5 am in West Bengal. Local trains and metro trains transit will operate with half of the capacity. Local trains will be functional until 7 pm. Shopping malls and markets will also be allowed to stay open with 50 per cent capacity till 10 pm,” HK Dwivedi, the chief secretary announced in a press conference, reported HT.

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The West Bengal school education department has earlier instructed school teachers and non-teaching staff having Covid omicron symptoms such as cough, cold or mild fever to not go to schools till they test negative for the coronavirus infection in the backdrop of West Bengal Covid cases doubling within one day.

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West Bengal schools reopened for physical classes for Class 9 to Class 12 on November 16. The government had been planning to resume physical classes for lower classes too in a phased manner from January 2022. But the sudden spike in Covid cases has forced the government to shut all schools and educational institutions in West Bengal.

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As many as 4,512 new Covid cases in West Bengal were registered on new year’s day, with Kolkata city alone accounting for 2,398 new cases. There are 13,300 active cases in West Bengal, as of January 1, 2022, out of which 6,442 are Kolkata Covid cases, as per the data shared by the state health department.

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