Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to keep all schools except the residentials in the state closed from tomorrow till 22nd of this month in view of the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the past few days. However, teaching and non-teaching staff shall attend the school.<br />''<br />''According to the State Government Disaster Management Cell order, the Education Department has been asked to frame SOPs for the residential schools for containment of COVID-19. It may be recalled that the State Government had earlier allowed all schools, including residential ones, to open from 2nd of this month in view of the decline in COVID cases.<br />''<br />''On the other hand, all persons intending to visit the state will have to carry their COVID Vaccination Certificate, with double dose or a negative RT-PCR test report not older than 72 hours or RAT negative report not older than 24 hours from Friday.<br />''<br />''As a precautionary measure, it has also been decided to limit occupancy to 50 per cent in all public transport, including Inter-State, Inter-district and Intra-district movement of public transport buses from Friday.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, 419 fresh COVID cases and two related deaths were reported in the state in the past 24 hours.<br />