In view of rising COVID-19 cases, Ballari Deputy Commissioner and Chairperson of District Disaster Management Authority Pavan Kumar Malapati, on Wednesday, ordered the closure of all pre-schools — pre-nurseries, nurseries and anganwadis — across the district and Classes I-VIII in and around Tornagal with immediate effect. The order was issued under Section 34 of the National Disaster Management Act 2005 and it will be in force till January 19.
The areas specified in the order for closure of classes included Tornagal, Ballari Thermal Power Station, Kudtini, Vaddu, Sultanpur, Taranagar, Kurekuppa and Jindal Township as they have reported a rise in positive cases showing a trend for cluster formation.
The order made it clear that the next course of action will be taken later after analysing the situation. It also said that educational institutions can switch to online mode and other methods to continue teaching and learning activities.
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Mr. Malapati warned that stringent action will be taken under various sections of National Disaster Management Act 2005, Indian Penal Code and Karnataka Epidemic Act 2020 against the violation of the order and COVID-19 guidelines.
Mr. Malapati observed that the district has 2.64 lakh schoolchildren aged less than 15 and 60,000 pre-school children who are yet to receive vaccination.
He also noted that the positivity rate has jumped from 0.14% on December 31, 2021 to 9% on January 11, 2022 throwing the focus on the need for tougher measures to contain the spread of the virus.
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“The possibility of the virus rapidly spreading among students is very high as they are in groups in schools and hostels. It is also very difficult to enforce COVID-19 appropriate behaviour among children,” Mr. Malapati said.