Masks made mandatory in Uttarakhand private, government schools amid COVID concerns

With COVID making a comeback in parts of the country, the Uttarakhand government made masks mandatory in private as well as government schools. In this regard, Uttarakhand Director General of Education Bansidhar Tiwari said, "Students, teachers and other employees of private and government schools will have to come wearing masks and use sanitiser-thermal screening."

Further, Tiwari said that instructions have been given to the principals of all private and government schools that every employee, teacher and child will have to wear masks in the school. "No one will be allowed to enter the school without a mask," he stressed.

Moreover, instructions have also been given that social distancing should be followed as much as possible and awareness campaigns regarding COVID should be conducted on a large scale in schools so that the coming danger of the virus can be averted in advance, he added, as stated in a report by ANI. 

Other states

Considering the COVID-19 situation in several countries, the Karnataka government earlier made masks mandatory in schools and colleges. Also, the teachers at the school have been instructing students to wear masks in school. Similarly, last week, Uttarakhand Health Secretary in charge Dr R Rajesh Kumar reviewed the Covid-19 situation through a virtual medium.

He said that all the District Magistrates and Chief Medical Officers, as per the guidelines issued by the Government of India in June 2022 for the Operational Guideline for Revised Surveillance Strategy in the context of Covid-19, for early identification, isolation, testing, and management of suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19 Officers should ensure preparation for rescue and control related to Covid-19 variant in their respective districts, as stated in a report by ANI. 

Moreover, as per the Union Health Ministry sources, the next 40 days will be crucial as India may see a surge of COVID cases in mid of January.