Schools for class 5 to 8 reopened from January 27 in Maharashtra. However, after the spike in COVID-19 cases, schools in Amravati district have been ordered shut till February 28, reported ToI.
However, the physical classes for Class 10 and Class 12 will not be shut.
The decision was taken after the sudden rise in the COVID-19 cases in the last three days.
Recently, a central team which visited parts of Maharashtra, had observed that the positivity rate was higher in rural areas of Vidarbha, particularly in Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal and Bhandara districts.
On February 8, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with a Central team and instructed Nagpur and Amravati divisional commissioners to remain alert after the team observed high positivity rate in four districts there.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra reported 3,670 new coronavirus infections on Friday, taking the caseload to 20,56,575, a health department official said.
The state also reported 36 new fatalities, taking the death toll due to the pandemic to 51,451, he said.
Of new deaths, 19 were from the past 48 hours and 13 from the last one week, while four deaths had taken place even earlier, the official said.
A total of 2,422 patients were discharged from hospitals on Friday, taking the overall number of recoveries in Maharashtra to 19,72,475.
The state has 31,474 active cases now.
Maharashtra's case recovery rate stands at 95.91 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.50 per cent.
Mumbai city reported 599 new cases and four deaths.
The total count of cases in state capital went up to 3,12,902 and the death toll to 11,409.
Cases in Amravati District as of Friday
Positive cases: 24,704
Death toll: 407
Discharged: 22,193
Active cases: 2,102
New cases: 413
(With inputs from agencies)
