Puducherry, Sep 16 (PTI) The Puducherry government on Friday declared closure of schools for students studying from classes 1 to VII from Saturday till 25 September following high rise in flu- like illness among children.

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Joint Director of Education V G Sivagami issued the circular for government-run and private schools in Puducherry and Karaikal regions.

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The decision of the Department of School Education was taken based on the recommendation of the Health Department to shut the schools.

"During the last 10 days, there have been at least 50 per cent spike in fever cases among children and their turnout at hospitals has also been on the rise," a spokesperson of the Health Department told PTI.

The government-run Rajiv Gandhi Women and Child Hospital has been receiving a large number of children with complaints of fever, cough and cold, the spokesperson 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)