More than 56,000 schools will be closed in Pakistan for the rest of the week to contain a conjunctivitis epidemic, we learned from an official source on Wednesday.
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From Thursday, millions of students will be excluded from school in the Punjab (Central-East) province, which has recorded 357,000 cases of conjunctivitis since the beginning of the year.
Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the eye that causes redness, itching, and discharge. It is a common disease that is usually benign but very contagious.
“The closure (of schools) was announced as a preventive measure to ensure maximum protection of students from infection,” Zulfiqar Ali, spokesman for the Punjab education department, told AFP.
The Punjab province is the most populous in the country with 127 million inhabitants. There are 56,000 public schools and thousands of private schools that must also close.
“We hope this will stop the transmission of infections in the province,” Mr Ali added.
Schools across the country were scheduled to close on Friday, a public holiday. But many will reopen at the weekend to offer additional courses or organize exams.