The Federal Government on Monday says the disinfection of schools against the spread of COVID-19 in preparation for school resumption will begin on Tuesday.
The Minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmood, said this at the 49th joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
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According to him, the government delayed the decontamination process to ensure the efficacy of the chemicals that would be used as they have shorter lifespans.
He however assured that it had enough teams on the ground to carry out the disinfection exercise.
“Earlier I told you that we have sat with the Ministry of Education and we have the list of all the schools that need to be disinfected before resumption. Well, what we plan to do now is to decontaminate the centres that will be used,” Mahmood said.
On why the process was delayed, the minister said it was intentional, as the plan was to ensure that the chemicals were effective enough when the schools resume.
“The delay is because it is better to disinfect and decontaminate within a short period of time so that the kids will be going back into these classes when they have been freshly decontaminated.
“This is because the chemicals we use are chemicals that are not long-lasting, they have short contact time to do their job. So we will be getting this done before Monday when they (students) will be back to use these classes,” the minister said.
He said the decontamination would commence from Tuesday and assured parents that the schools would be safe for learning activities.
He said, “So it is between tomorrow (Tuesday) and the rest of the week. We have enough teams and people that we will engage to get that done.
“So rest assured that your kids will be returning to a safe environment when they resume.”
