Sindh to reopen schools from August 20 with 50% attendance

The Sind Education Ministry on Tuesday allowed schools in the province to reopen from August 20 with 50 per cent attendance.

After a meeting chaired by Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, it was announced that schools with 100 per cent vaccinated staff will be allowed to reopen.

It also said that 50 per cent students will be allowed to attend schools adhering to all SOPs.

Following a surge in the coronavirus cases, schools were closed across the province earlier this month.

A total of 95 more deaths and 3,221 new positive cases of coronavirus infection were reported in the country in the last 24 hours.

According to the National Command and Operation Center, 48,181 tests were conducted, while the positivity ratio remained 6.68 per cent. The death toll due to the pandemic has now reached 24,573.

The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major cities, including Islamabad, 48 per cent; Bahawalpur, 48 per cent; Peshawar, 43 per cent; and Multan, 45 per cent.

The maximum oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of Covid patient) was also occupied in four major cities of Swabi, 45 per cent; Abbottabad 73 per cent; Karachi, 58 per cent; and Gujranwala, 57 per cent.

Around 492 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country, while no Covid-affected person was on ventilator in Balochistan.

Some 48,181 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours, including 13,695 in Sindh, 20,496 in Punjab, 8,009 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 3,966 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 456 in Balochistan, 676 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 883 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Around 24,573 deaths were recorded in the country since the eruption of the contagion. Around 6,475 people perished in Sindh, 34 of them died in the hospitals and two out of the hospitals during the last 24 hours.