International Desk: India, in the last 24 hours, added over two lakh new Covid-19 cases, an unprecedented figure, to take its cumulative count to over 1.4 crore. India has been the world’s worst-hit country since April 2, forcing states scrambling to impose curbs to control the virus. With 2,00,739 new cases, the country’s active case tally now stands at 14,71,877.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry on Wednesday postponed the CBSE Class 12 board exams and cancelled the Class 10 exams amid growing concerns over the surge in Covid-19 infections in the country. For the Class 12 exam, the Ministry will review the situation on June 1 to decide fresh dates and make an announcement at least two weeks before the start of the exams.

The decision, which affects roughly 21.5 lakh Class 10 students and 14 lakh Class 12 students across the country, was taken at a meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and the Ministry’s top officers on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting was also attended by the Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary to the PM. The Class 10 and 12 exams were earlier scheduled to start May 4.

The Bihar government has been struggling to fight the new surge in cases as the state is running short of hospital beds to treat critical patients. Covid beds at about 20 government and private hospitals are already full. AIIMS, Patna Director PK Singh said: “We have been increasing beds but it is not enough. It is very difficult to accomodate referred cases”.

Source : The Indian Express