Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced Monday that public and private schools in Virginia will be closed through the academic year to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Northam had initially announced a two-week closure — although some Northern Virginia public school districts opted to close for longer — but the governor said Monday that schools will remain shuttered for the remainder of the academic year.

The measure was one of several announced by the governor as the number of coronavirus cases in the state has surged to 254 since the first cases were reported earlier this month. The number of deaths had doubled overnight, to six.

“These number will, unfortunately, continue to rise,” he said. “We are in this for months, not weeks. So we are taking additional actions to keep Virginians safe.”

Effective at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, for at least 30 days, restaurants can remain open only for carryout and curbside delivery. All barbershops, movie theaters, massage parlors and gyms must close. All gatherings of 10 or more people are banned, including in private homes.

“It is clear that many of our nonessential businesses must close to minimize the speed at which covid-19 spreads and protect the capacity of our health-care system,” Northam said, referring to the disease caused by the virus.

Northam described the school closures as “necessary” while also acknowledging how the move will disrupt children’s education as well as the child-care arrangements for health-care workers.

“I know this raises a lot of questions for parents and also for our students,” Northam said. Local school division leaders will decide how students can learn the information they were meant to cover through the remainder of the year, with help from the state. “By tomorrow, the state Department of Education will issue guidance to help school divisions think through those decisions and ensure that every student is served equitably,” he said.

“We’re already working on waivers to relieve testing requirements and ensure that students who were on track to graduate can do so,” he said.

Northam noted that the school closures could create a child-care emergency for essential workers such as doctors, nurses and grocery store clerks, whose children suddenly have nowhere to go during school hours.

Virginia has 1.2 million children under age 12, half of them in public schools or preschools, Northam said.

A Yale University study estimates that 80,000 of them are children of health-care workers, Northam said. Virginia needs to fill that void, probably with a combination of public schools and private day-care centers providing essential personnel.