NCOC decides to hold winter holidays in schools from January 3

The decision was announced during a meeting chaired by NCOC head and Planning Minister Asad Umar wherein Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and others were in attendance. Provincial entities would notify accordingly.

According to NCOC, the decision to keep the educational institutions open was to maximise vaccination among students.

Urging the parents to get their children vaccinated, the nerve centre for Pakistan's Covid-19 response said that millions of students remain unvaccinated and data suggests that children may also be susceptible to infection from the virus.

Additionally, global trends regarding the spread of the new Omicron variant suggest that an upsurge of cases typically happens within a few weeks of the detection of the variant.

“In light of this information, it will be prudent to schedule winter vacations in Pakistan in January to coincide with the potential uptick of cases. This will allow for minimal disruption of educational calendars if there is a surge in cases,” the NCOC added

It further urged all citizens to get vaccinated, including those who had not yet gotten their second dose. Complete vaccination offers the highest protection against the disease, the forum said.

Earlier, the education minister had suggested that winter vacations should commence from December 20.

The education minister’s suggestion came during a meeting with Umar.

“There is a risk of coronavirus outbreak in three weeks. There is a high risk of Omicron outbreaks. The new variant is not as dangerous, but precautions are very important amid its [rapid] spread,” NCOC chief had said.