Bengal asks teachers with cough, cold, fever to not attend schools

With daily COVID-19 cases doubling within one day, the West Bengal School Education Department has asked teachers and non-teaching staffers having cough, cold or mild fever to not attend schools till they test negative for the infection.

The state registered more than 1,000 fresh cases on Wednesday after a gap of nearly six months. The daily count crossed 2,000 on Thursday.

"Primary, secondary and higher secondary schools have been asked to ensure that teachers and non-teaching employees don't come to the institutions if they have a cold, cough or mild fever.

"Also, they must get tested for COVID-19, and will be allowed to enter the schools only if the results return negative. They will have to produce the reports to the health department," an official told PTI on Friday.

While physical classes for standards 9-12 have resumed on November 16, the state government has been mulling to restart lower classes in the offline mode in a phased manner from next year, Education Minister Bratya Basu had earlier said.

However, with the fresh spike in cases, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently said that the government will review the situation and take steps accordingly, keeping in mind the safety of the students.