WB CM mulls shutting down schools, colleges as COVID-19 cases rise

The West Bengal government may consider closing schools and colleges for a brief period of time if the COVID-19 situation continues to deteriorate, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said during an administrative review meeting at Gangasagar on December 29.

Banerjee has directed officials to review the overall situation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and take necessary preventive steps.

"Cases of COVID-19 are on the rise and there are a few Omicron cases as well. So, review the situation in the State. We may consider closing schools and colleges for some time," Banerjee told officials.

The West Bengal CM has also asked officials concerned to identify containment zones in the city, where COVID-19 cases have been on the rise.

The State government is also considering vaccinating students in the age bracket of 15-18 years against COVID-19 at their respective schools, an official of the state health department said on December 28.

The vaccination of children in the aforementioned age group will begin across the country on January 3, 2022. The West Bengal government plans to administer the first dose of vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 virus to around 48 lakh children within a month. For this, the State government will organise vaccination camps in the premises of government as well as private schools.

A coordination meeting on students' vaccination, involving Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), school education department and the health department was supposed to be held on December 29. However, there was no update on the meeting by the time this report was filed.

According to figures with the West Bengal’s health department, the State has reported five more cases of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of Coronavirus, which took the total number of patients infected by the new variant in the state to 11. At least four of the five new patients do not have any travel history to foreign shores, a health official told PTI.