Assam- In spite of the novel coronavirus take an upward spiral in the state of Assam, Dibrugarh University has announced that it would conduct the undergraduate and postgraduate examinations in an offline mode.
Both regional and distant courses will have to undertake the offline mode of examinations for the undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
This decision to conduct the examinations in offline mode was announced after an official notification was signed by the controller of the examination in charge of Dibrugarh University Mr. A Baruah.
In other news, the Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya school in Dibrugarh will remain closed till April 30 after the principal had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. It appears that the principal had returned from Mumbai, the capital of the worst coronavirus-affected state in the country.
The Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier announced that primary schools and classes in all the Assam district that has over 100 active coronavirus cases will remain suspended until further notice.
As of Sunday, 26 fresh cases of coronavirus had been reported from the district of Dibrugarh. He also added that district authorities have been instructed to fine people who do not wear masks in public places by one thousand rupees.
"In view of the rapid surge in COVID-19 cases and the threat it poses to the well-being of small children, classes of all primary-level schools will remain closed in all districts with more than 100 active cases," said the Assam Health Minister.
"Classes in other districts - which have less than 100 cases - will continue for now, following all COVID-19 protocols," he said. He also added by saying, "In schools, we'll organize camps to vaccinate teachers over the age of 45 (and) in any other workplace having over 100 employees, we'll (also) organize vaccination drives."
Assam's COVID-19 tally mounted to 2,24,455 on April 18 as 639 more people tested positive for the infection, while six fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,135, the National Health Mission (NHM) said. The Kamrup Metro with 354 fresh coronavirus cases becomes the highest COVID-19 contributing district in the state. The six deaths were reported from Barpeta, Cachar, Dhemaji, Kamrup Metropolitan, Morigaon, and Tinsukia district. Meanwhile, India reported 2,73,810 fresh new Covid-19 cases, making it the fifth straight day that India has recorded more than 2 lakh Covid cases in 24 hours. The highest one-day surge took the total tally of caseload to 1.5 crore mark. There have been 1,619 cases of fatalities reported in the last 24 hours in a new record high taking the total caseload past the 1.5 crore mark. This is the sixth consecutive day that India reported over a thousand daily deaths.