Uttar Pradesh extends closure of schools for students of upto Class 8 till 4 April

Lucknow: Amid a spike in coronavirus cases, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday extended to 4 April the closure of all schools for students up to Class 8, according to an official. Earlier, the state government had shut schools for students up to Class 8 till 31 March. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued the fresh directions during a review meeting at his 5, Kalidas Marg residence. The CM has directed the closure of schools for students up to Class 8 till 4 April, an official spokesperson said, adding that it has been ordered to ensure that the COVID-19 protocol is followed for other classes. The CM asked officials to step up testing with focus on old age homes, orphanages, residential schools and other such places. The CM said the dedicated COVID hospitals made earlier should be reactivated. The state had reported 10 more COVID-19 fatalities on Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 8,800, while 918 new cases took the infection tally to 6,15,996. Four deaths were reported from Lucknow, two from Kanpur and one each from Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Unnao and Auraiya, a health bulletin issued said. The bulletin said the state has so far tested over 3.47 crore samples for COVID-19, including 64,519 on Monday.