All schools (State Board, CBSE and ICSE) in the Union Territory of Puducherry will remain closed for Classes I to VIII from Monday (March 22) till May 31 in view of the sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.
The decision was taken based on a recommendation by the High Level COVID Vaccine Committee chaired by Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.
P.T. Rudra Goud, Director of School Education, said for Classes 9 to 11, online lessons will be conducted for five days a week from Monday to Friday.
Meanwhile, the U.T. recorded 60 new cases and 24 recoveries on Saturday.
The new cases, which were confirmed from testing 1,345 samples, were reported from Puducherry (39), Karaikal (19) and Mahe (two). No cases were seen in Yanam.
The test positivity rate was 4.46%, case fatality rate 1.67% and recovery rate 97.45%.
The active cases in the U.T. stood at 353. Of these, 189 were in hospitals and 164 in home isolation.
The toll is 674 deaths, the tally stood at 40,322 cases and 39,295 patients recovered.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 vaccinations rose to 40,522 with 1,096 members of the public, 808 healthcare personnel and 384 frontline workers getting their first dose on Saturday.
