The Punjab government on Saturday announced that schools will be allowed to reopen for all classes from August 2, ANI reported.

Schools will be expected to follow proper protocol to ensure Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, as per a notification by the Punjab government. “Department of School Education shall issue instructions in this regard,” the notification said.

Schools for classes 10 to 12 reopened in Punjab on July 26 after having remained closed for nearly four months. At the time, the school education department issued detailed guidelines, which mandated that only fully vaccinated teachers and non-teaching staff would be allowed to attend schools in person. The guidelines also made it mandatory for schools to seek written consent from parents to send children to attend classes, The Indian Express reported.

Schools are also holding virtual classes alongside the physical classes.

On Friday, Punjab reported 49 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total count, since the pandemic broke out last year, to 5,99,053, the Hindustan Times reported. No deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.

Several other states in India have also allowed physical classes to resume in schools for students of certain age groups.

Schools in Gujarat have been opened for classes 9 to 11 from July 26 with a 50% seating capacity. Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra said that schools will open on August 2.

On July 20, Balram Bhargava, chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research had recommended that once India starts considering opening of schools, it will be “wise to open primary schools first.”

Bhargava had further noted that children handle viral infections much better than adults.

He had made these remarks while releasing the findings of the fourth nationwide sero survey. The survey showed that over half of the children aged between 6 and 17 years had Covid-19 antibodies.