Murad Raas, Punjab Education Minister, has cleared the air about school closures in the country’s most populous province amid a Covid resurgence.
Raas stated during a press conference at the Wahdat Road Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Education Development that classes for children under the age of 12 will be continued with 50% attendance and that masks and Covid vaccines will be required for all students to attend the in-person classes.
Sharing official statistics, he stated that approximately 85 percent of children in schools have been vaccinated, while nearly 100 percent of teachers have been fully immunized against the novel virus.
He stated that the decision was made at the NCOC meeting, which was attended by Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid and PM’s health aide Dr. Faisal Sultan.
Raas shared a tweet last week in which he answer rumors about school closures amid a rise in Covid. “To all those who are wondering whether or not the schools are closing, the answer is yes.” Every other activity, especially social activities, should, in my opinion, come to a halt before schools. He wrote on Twitter that schools should be the last to close.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s top pandemic response body is holding an important meeting to discuss strict Covid pandemic restrictions.
The NCOC met on Saturday to discuss disease prevalence and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in response to a spike in infections in the country, particularly in major cities.
On Monday, the South Asian country reported over 4,000 new infections for the third day in a row. In the last 24 hours, 4,340 people tested positive for the virus, bringing the country’s overall positivity rate to 8.71 percent.
