Schools to go online till Std 9 as Gujarat announces fresh Covid rules

Following suit with other states, the Gujarat government too has announced discontinuation of offline classes from standard 1 till standard 9 in schools across the state till January 31, 2022, thereby allowing only online classes.

However, offline classes for standard 10 onwards in schools till post graduate programmes in colleges, along with coaching institutes and tuitions are allowed to run at 50 per cent capacity, even as all standard operating procedures (SOP) around Covid-19 are to be followed.

Chairing a core committee meeting to take stock of the rising Covid-19 cases amid the fresh wave, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday announced a fresh set of guidelines. The committee comprises revenue minister Rajendra Trivedi, education minister Jitubhai Vaghani, health minister Rushikeshbhai Patel along with chief secretary Pankaj Kumar, chief principal secretary to CM Kailashnathan and ACS home Rajkumar, among others.

Being implemented from January 08 till January 15, the fresh guidelines include revised night curfew from 10 pm to morning 6 am in the top ten cities including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Gandhinagar, Anand and Nadiad.

While shop establishments and commercial complexes can remain open till 10 pm, hotels and restaurants will now have to operate till 10 pm at 75 per cent capacity and provide home delivery services till 11 pm.

Political, social, educational, cultural and religious gatherings are permitted for maximum 400 persons in the open and at 50 per cent capacity upto 400 in closed settings. Attendance for weddings have been capped at 50 per cent or maximum 400 while that for cremation or burial services at 100 persons.

Public and private bus transport services have been exempted from night curfew even as the capacity is capped at 75 per cent.  On the other hand, cinema halls or multiplexes, gyms, water parks, swimming pools, and auditoriums now see a cap of 50 per cent while public gardens remain open till 10 pm. The night curfew, however, is exempted for essential services and medical emergencies, among others.

Meanwhile, Gujarat High Court (HC) too on Friday issued fresh directions, which will come into effect from January 10, 2022, such as HC as well as district judiciary courts functioning in virtual mode only through video conferencing till further orders.

Overall in Gujarat, there are a total 14346 active Covid-19 cases with 29 on ventilators. Of the total active cases, 204 patients are reported to be infected with the Omicron variant with zero casualties.