New Delhi: As the Delhi government on Wednesday announced that they will not reopen schools in the city for the foreseeable future, the Capital reported its highest-ever daily case count since the outbreak with the official bulletin declaring a total of 5,673 new COVID-19 cases.
This is the first time daily cases in the city have crossed the 5,000-mark as Delhi added 40 more deaths to its COVID-19 toll, of which one was from August, as per the Delhi government. However, the city also saw record testing, with over 60,500 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, leading to a positivity rate of 9.37 per cent. The total tally in the city crossed 3.7 lakh and the death toll climbed to 6,396.
The previous highest single-day spike of 4,853 cases was recorded on Tuesday. The active cases tally on Wednesday rose to 29,378 from 27,873 the previous day, according to the bulletin. The bulletin said that the total number of cases has climbed to 3,70,014.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced that keeping with parents' wishes, the Delhi government had decided not to reopen schools for the time being until further orders are issued. The Delhi government had earlier announced that schools will remain closed till October 31.
"We keep getting feedback from parents that they are really concerned about whether it is safe to reopen schools. It is not. Wherever schools have reopened, COVID-19 cases among children have risen. So we have decided that as of now schools in the national capital will not reopen. They will continue to be closed till further orders," Sisodia said.
While several restrictions were eased in different 'unlock' phases, educational institutions continued to remain closed. According to Unlock 5' guidelines, states can take a call on reopening schools in phases. Several states including Haryana, Punjab, UP and Sikkim have also begun the process of reopening schools.