India to reopen schools despite rising cases

The Indian government, on Wednesday, said it would reopen schools for students in upper grades after more than five months of closure amid a daily rise of 89,706 coronavirus infections.

According to India’s Health Ministry in its daily update, this figure takes its second-highest tally globally to more than 4.3 million cases.

At least 1,115 deaths linked to the virus were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 73,890, the Health Ministry said in its daily update.

India is the second-most infected country globally, with 4,370,128 cases, behind only the United States, which has a total of 6,327,793 cases, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The ministry announced late Tuesday the partial reopening of schools from September 21 for students between 9th and 12th grade.