New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS): In view of the rising number of coronavirus cases, the Delhi government announced on Friday that all schools in the city will continue to remain fully closed till October 5.

"All government and private schools will remain closed for all students till October 5. However, online teaching and learning activities will continue as usual," an order issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.

School principals are authorised to call "staff as per requirement for smooth conduct of online classes or any other work", it said.

Earlier, the government had said it would allow senior students to come to schools if they need any guidance from their teachers. But now, it has made clear that there will be no partial reopening of the schools, irrespective of the class.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

From September 21, schools in a few states are resuming as Centre has given a go-ahead in its 'Unlock 4' guidelines.

With a massive single day spike of 96,424 new cases and 1,172 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's Covid-19 tally on Friday crossed the 5.2 million mark with total number of cases reaching to 51,18,253