'Observing schools resuming in other states to decide for Delhi'

New Delhi: As the Capital on Friday maintained its Covid daily positivity rate under 0.1 per cent, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that a decision to reopen schools here will be taken after observing how other states are doing after reopening.

The Delhi government will review the experience of other states where schools are reopening such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP and others, and then take a decision, the CM said.

The chief minister, however, reiterated the Delhi government's stand that the ideal situation for reopening schools would be after vaccination is complete.

"The ideal situation would be to open schools after vaccination. We will see for some days the experiences of other states where schools are opening and then decide. Parents are still worried about their child's safety," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Timarpur.

The states that have partially reopened schools this month include Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have announced the reopening of schools in the first week of August.

While several states started partial reopening of schools in October last year, the Delhi government allowed physical classes only for 9-12 grades in January this year, which were again suspended following the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases.

The Delhi government, however, allowed auditoriums and assembly halls in schools to be used for training and meeting purposes, but physical teaching and learning remain suspended.

The city on Friday reported 58 new Covid infections and one more death from the virus with a 0.09 per cent positivity rate. Active cases in the Capital have now reached 573 and the death toll from the virus here has mounted to 25,041.

Asked about vaccine shortage, the chief minister said, "We are still facing vaccine shortage. Central government should figure how to increase vaccine availability quickly."

The city has been now forced to reserve all Covishield doses for the second dose till July 31, in addition to 80 per cent of Covaxin stocks already being reserved for the second dose.

On Friday, the Delhi government's vaccination bulletin showed that a little less than 40,000 doses of Covishield were left with it and around 2.3 lakh Covaxin doses. The Cowin portal managed by the Centre, showed that the city had administered around 36,000 doses on Friday, compared to around 48,000 on Thursday.