Covid cases dip in Delhi; principals, students want schools to reopen

Delhi on Sunday reported 66 new Covid-19 cases, with the positivity rate in the last 24 hours being 0.10 per cent. As many as 95 people have recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, as compared to Saturday when 22 people were discharged post-recovery. With this, the total recoveries have gone up to 14,11,159. As per the Delhi health bulletin, no death was recorded in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) was held to discuss whether schools in the capital should be reopened and an expert committee was formed to examine the issue, many principals and students felt that schools should be reopened as Covid-19 cases have dropped.

Speaking to ANI, Mahendra Pal Sharma, principal of ASVJ School, Daryaganj said, “Students are willing to come to school but their parents are against it as most of the students have not received Covid-19 vaccination.” He added, “Parents and students should mentally prepare themselves as it has been almost a year. Students are taking online classes and things need to be normal now with precautions against Covid-19.”

Pavitra, a class 11th student living in East Delhi’s Priya Enclave said, “Schools should open now because we have been at home for a long time. Online classes become difficult to understand at times. So studying in class makes more sense.”

Samyak, a student in 8th standard, also believes that schools should be opened now. “The continuous closure of schools is affecting our mental health. The result of this is that neither we are able to meet friends nor are we able to discuss anything. Not only students but parents also say that schools should be opened now,” he added.

Earlier, on 1 August, the Education Department of the state had issued the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the reopening of schools from 2 August for classes 9th to 12th, and 16 August for classes 6th to 8th.

With Covid-19 cases now dropping, Delhi has relaxed most restrictions on public movement and outdoor activities. The number of active cases in Delhi now stands at 536 while the cumulative caseload has mounted to 14,36,761. As many as 67,316 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours including 47,021 RT-PCR tests and 20,295 Rapid Antigen tests, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 2,42,22,336.

Delhi at present has 269 containment zones, as per the data provided by the state government. WITH ANI INPUTS