Zambia has rescheduled the reopening of schools due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, its education ministry said on Monday.

Schools were scheduled for reopening on January 10, but this has since been moved to January 24.

“The reason is that although we were prepared as a ministry for the reopening of schools, the upswing is a danger,” Douglas Syakalima, Minister of Education, told reporters during a press briefing.

The minister said the decision was made after thorough consultations with the Ministry of Health.

He said the ministry will use the period to assess the situation and put in place measures such as fumigation of schools before reopening.

The government, he said, also wanted to utilize the period to encourage learners from 12 years and above to get vaccinated.

Zambia is currently experiencing the fourth wave of the pandemic, which has seen a surge in cases, with the majority of the cases being the new Omicron variant.

The country’s cumulative cases stand at 261,211 following 1,544 new confirmed cases reported in the past 24 hours, according to Ministry of Health figures.

The new cases were picked from 5,754 tests done during the period while 2,725 people were discharged, bringing the total recoveries to 229,006. At least 10 people died during the same period, bringing the total deaths to 3,753.