Students of Classes 9 through 12 were attending classes in Delhi.
New Delhi:
All schools and colleges will be closed in Delhi in view of the huge rise in coronavirus cases in the capital, along with other parts of the country, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday.
Several states and territories including Delhi have announced new restrictions such as night curfews amid the spike in COVID-19 that has pushed new infection numbers to record highs.
Most of the classes were already suspended in Delhi but students from Class 9 through 12 were attending school in view of their board exams.
India reported nearly 1.32 lakh new infections and 780 deaths on Friday – the biggest daily increase in fatalities since mid-October. Most of the cases again came from Maharashtra, home to financial capital Mumbai.
Inched closer to Brazil’s 1.32 crore caseload, the number of coronavirus cases in India has swelled to 1.3 crore – the third-highest after the United States and the South American country – and total deaths to 1,67,642.
The government blames the resurgence mainly on crowding and a reluctance to wear masks as businesses had nearly fully reopened since February, only to be partially shut down again as case have galloped.
Election rallies, where politicians including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have greeted hundreds of thousands of supporters, most of them not wearing masks, continued this week despite the record surge in cases.
