In wake of the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the state government has announced that exams for class 10th and 12th will be conducted offline.
The announcement was made by School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad.
No change has been made to the schedule of the examinations. The exams for Class 10 will start on April 29 while for the 12th standard, the papers will begin on April 23.
Due to COVID-19, the duration of the examination will be increased by 15 minutes. For specially-abled students, it will be increased by 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, Mumbai's civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued fresh guidelines for Mumbaikars. As per the new COVID-19 guidelines, which will come into effect from March 22, people visiting malls and shopping centres will have to undergo antigen tests or carry a negative RT-PCR report.
If any visitor doesn't have a negative COVID-19 test report, then he/she will have to get a Rapid Antigen Test done at the entrance of the shopping mall. "A team will be designated at the entrance for this very purpose. The details are being worked out," BMC official said.
A total of 40,953 new coronavirus cases and 23,653 recoveries were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday.
The worst affected state Maharashtra reported 13,601 new COVID-19 cases and 12,174 recoveries in the last 24 hours on Saturday as per the Union Health Ministry. The state also reported 58 deaths in this period.
As many as 4,20,63,392 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the country so far.
