Mumbai’s municipal corporation announced on Monday that schools in the city will remain closed from January 4 to January 31 for all classes except Classes 10 and 12.

Online classes can continue for Classes 1 to 9 and Class 11. The decision was taken owing to the rising number of coronavirus cases, including those of the Omicron variant, in Mumbai.

Schools can, however, call students to its premises so that they can be taken for Covid-19 vaccination.

Coronavirus vaccination for children between 15 and 18 years of age began from Monday.

Covid-19 cases have been consistently rising in Mumbai for the past two weeks. The city reported 8,082 coronavirus infections on Monday, marginally higher than Sunday’s figure of 8,063 cases. Two persons died of Covid-19 in Mumbai in the past day.

As many as 90% of the cases reported on Monday were asymptomatic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said. A total of 574 persons were hospitalised for the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, out of which 71 are on oxygen support.

Out of the total available beds in Mumbai, 12.2% were occupied on Monday, data from the civic body showed.

The test positivity rate in Mumbai reduced to 16.3% on Monday, as compared to 17% the previous day.

Schools for classes 1 to 7 had reopened in Mumbai on December 15 after being shut for over 20 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

From August 17, the state government had allowed schools to resume in areas where the prevalance of Covid-19 was low.

The government had not specified a threshold below which coronavirus cases would be considered as “low”. However, it empowered municipal authorities and district collectors to take a decision for urban and rural areas.

Schools had reopened across the state for Classes 8 to 12 in urban areas from October 4.