Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, on Friday postponed the reopening of schools under its jurisdiction to December 31, citing the rising number of coronavirus cases in the city, ANI reported. The schools were earlier scheduled to open on November 23.

“All schools in BMC jurisdiction to remain closed till 31 December (sic),” said Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar. “The decision has been taken in the wake of rise in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai.”

The move comes amid predictions that Mumbai might witness a second wave of the virus in the coming days, with the onset of winter and the festival season.

Hours later, the Haryana government announced that all schools in the state would remain shut till November 30, amid a rise in coronavirus infections, NDTV reported. In an order, the Directorate of State Education also said that the schools will be sanitised regularly to prevent the spread of the disease.

On Thursday, Mumbai reported 924 fresh cases, taking its overall numbers to 2,72,455, while 12 new deaths took the toll to 10,627. The number of active cases in the city stood at 11,694. The daily count on Thursday was the highest in this week so far, according to NDTV. Haryana, on the other hand, recorded 1,87,559 cases, including 2,113 deaths, data from the health ministry showed.

Last week, the Maharashtra government’s health services directorate had issued a circular noting that a second wave of the pandemic was likely in January-February, according to PTI. The circular had asked authorities to ensure there is no complacency in testing and said labs should be functional in every district and municipal corporation limits.

Across India, 45,882 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Friday, taking the country’s tally to 90,04,365. The toll rose to 1,32,162 with 584 more deaths. The number of active cases stood at 4,43,794. As many as 84,28,409 people have recovered from the disease so far.