Punjab government postpones Class 10, 12 board exams amid rising COVID-19 cases

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New Delhi: The board exams of Class 10 and 12 in Punjab has been postponed amid the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state.

The state education department has said that the 10th board exams will now be conducted from May 4 to May 24, while the 12th board exams will be held from April 20 to May 24.

Earlier, the board exams were scheduled to begin on April 9 and March 22 for Class 10 and 12 students.

The decision came as there was no let-up in surge in COVID-19 cases in the state. As many as 1,843 fresh infections were registered in the last 24 hours. taking the total tally to 1,99,573.

The death toll rose to 6,099 with 27 more fatalities, according to a medical bulletin issued on Monday.

The number of active cases also increased from 11,550 on Sunday to 11,942 on Monday.

Jalandhar reported a maximum 372 fresh COVID-19 cases, Hoshiarpur 238, Ludhiana 226, Mohali and SBS Nagar 164 each, and Amritsar 147.

The recovery count reached 1,81,532 after 1,399 more novel coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering, the bulletin said.

There are 26 critical COVID-19 patients who are on ventilator support while 258 are on oxygen support, it said.

A total of 53,93,825 samples have been collected for COVID-19 testing so far in the state, it said.

Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu instructed all civil surgeons to motivate COVID-19 patients for early treatment at the health facilities.

In an official statement here, the minister said it was found that in 77.90 per cent COVID-19 cases, patients visit hospitals with severe symptoms at a late stage which is a major cause of high case fatality rate of the state.