Education ministers to discuss Winter vacations amid COVID-19 spike

ISLAMABAD: A session of provincial education ministers underway to discuss the the COVID-19 situation in the country, ARY News reported on Monday.

The meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood being attended by the education ministers of provinces on video link.

The meeting also being attended by the officials of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and federal and provincial health departments, sources said.

The education ministers’ session while mulling over the situation of coronavirus in academic institutes considered over a proposal of extended winter vacations in schools and colleges from November to January.

The matter was expected to be finally decided by the National Coordination Committee (NCC), according to sources.

Federal minister Shafqat Mahmood while talking in the session said that coronavirus cases have increased to alarming level in educational institutions.

The meeting consulted over pre-date and longer vacations in schools and colleges in winter.

Federal Minister for Education will announce decisions made in the meeting after the session.

It is to be mentioned here that a number of university departments, colleges, and schools were sealed across the country on reports of positive COVID-19 cases among the students at the campuses.

The NCOC had earlier issued a lockdown warning and called for better compliance with Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in wake of spike in the country’s positivity rate, virus-related deaths and hospital admissions.

The number of coronavirus cases continues to rise across the country as 2,128 fresh infections have been reported in the last 24 hours, ARY News reported on Monday.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), with fresh inclusion of the infections in the country the national tally of cases now currently stands at 359,032.

The number of active cases has soared to 28,048. 19 more people succumbed to the disease over the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 7,160.