Dharamshala, Apr 30 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday asked the Himachal Pradesh government not to rush in opening schools in the state as there is a risk of local transmission of COVID-19.

Congress spokesperson Jitendra Sharma said online classes for students should continue at least for the month of May.

"Majority of scientists in the world are advising that at the moment COVID-19 can be avoided only through social distancing. In schools, it will be impossible to follow social distancing norms," he said in a press release here.

Sharma said it would not be easy for the state government to monitor things on such a large scale and because of this all efforts being made so far to prevent the spread of coronavirus would be of no use.

Himachal Pradesh has not reported any fresh COVID-19 case in the last seven days, a senior health official said.

So far, 41 coronavirus cases have been reported and the number of active cases in the state is eight, the official said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)