"When Large Part Of Population Is Protected": Centre On Schools Reopening

Last week NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said: "A lot of things need to be considered - vaccination of teachers and maintaining social distance, for example..."

Schools - shut since March last year due to pandemic - will only re-open once a significant portion of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19, the government said Tuesday afternoon. "Schools require teachers and children to sit together. It gives the virus an opportunity to spread. We can only have this (re-opening of schools) when a large part of the population is protected," Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said. "Until it (the spread of the virus) is predictable it is hard to re-open," he said. Dr Paul also warned against re-opening schools because of the declining trend in daily new cases, saying: "The lull right now is because of restrictions. When they are removed cases may spike."