Mumbai schools to be closed for 7 days

All educational institutions and public places in financial capital Mumbai will be closed for a week from thursday to arrest the spread of the H1N1 virus .
Malls and multiplexs shall be shutdown for 3 days .
The government has ordered the closure of all schools, colleges and other educational institutions in the city from tomorrow till Aug 20. Similarly, malls, theatres and multiplexes shall be closed for three days from tomorrow as a precaution," a state government official said. Many private schools in the state have already closed down for two days -- Wednesday and Thursday. Thereafter, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are already official holidays. However, there was confusion over the fate of other business and commercial establishments and whether they would continue to function as usual in the city.
Although schoolkids comprise just 15% of the total number of positive cases (99) in Mumbai, neither parents nor schools seem to be willing to heed the central government’s guidelines that prohibit indiscriminate closure of schools given the fact that H1N1 is known to severely affect kids and the elderly. In Vadodara, a seven-year-old schoolgirl died of swine flu on Tuesday
Sensing an opportunity, the MNS went around forcibly closing schools in central Mumbai on Tuesday morning. The Dadar police detained three MNS activists in this connection. By Tuesday evening, the College Principals Association, asked all non-government colleges to remain shut till Sunday, saying there was a lot of pressure on them from students and parents for this. Late on Tuesday night, state health minister Rajendra Shingane said several ruling party MLAs too had demanded closure of schools and that he would take up the issue with the CM on Wednesday. In Thane, civic authorities on Tuesday decided to shut the 132 primary municipal schools for one week. Elsewhere in the city and extended suburbs, the panic reflected in the number of people wearing masks in local trains and buses. Around 4,000 people turned up for screening at the centres in 13 designated public hospital as opposed to 2,000 on Monday. In another development, 19 private and 2 government hospitals showed their willingness to screen and treat the H1N1 patients. However, these hospitals will be allowed to start the service for this epidemic only after a team of health and civic officials give them a green signal. This means that Mumbai’s wait for private hospitals to treat swine flu cases will be stretched for another seven days.