Odisha government revises Coronavirus guidelines; academic institutions to remain closed

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge, the Odisha government has decided to postpone the reopening of schools and other academic institutions. According to the new notification, all the academic institutions in the state will continue to remain closed till November 30. Earlier on Saturday, after witnessing a significant decline in the Coronavirus cases the state government had decided to reopen schools for classes 9 to 12 from November 16. 

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Odisha: Academic institutions to remain closed 

The statement issued by the government read, "All academic institutions will remain closed till November 30, 2020. However, the Department of School & Mass Education may take appropriate decision with regard to the date of re-opening of schools under its control/superintendence/supervision in respect of classes 9 to 12 in a graded manner, after November 15, 2020, in consultation with relevant stakeholders and issue necessary guidelines/SOP."

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The revised guidelines issued by the state government said that the Department of School and Mass Education may soon take a decision regarding the reopening of schools and other academic institutions. The latest guidelines also informed that higher education institutions will be allowed to open for the research scholars (PhD) and post-graduate students in the science and technology stream for their laboratory and experiment work only. 

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Coronavirus statistics in Odisha 

As the world continues to grapple with the Coronavirus pandemic, Odisha so far has recorded over 2,88,646 positive COVID-19 cases, out of which 2,73,838 have been recovered while 1,308 have died. According to the latest update by MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 1,547 fresh cases, 11 deaths and  1,800 recoveries have been recorded. The total number of active Coronavirus cases in the state is 13,500. As per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) until October 30, over 10,87,96,064 samples have been tested for COVID-19. On October 30, 10,67,976 samples were tested. 

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(With ANI inputs)