Bhubaneswar, Apr 22 (PTI) Odisha government is keeping a close watch on the COVID situation in view of the surge in the disease in the country, specially in the national capital region, state Mass Education Minister Samir Dash said.

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Dash said the third wave of the disease did not have much effect in the state and despite the recent surge in the disease there is no threat of a fourth one now.

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"The health department is maintaining a close watch and as there is no threat of a fourth one right now, holding of examinations of classes 10 and 12 will not be an issue," he said.

If a situation arises a decision will be taken on the basis of the health department's directives, he added.

Odisha Mass Education Minister State Health Services Director Bijay Mohapatra stressed on the need to be alert and for taking preventive steps.

He urged parents of students and school authorities to get the children tested for COVID if they develop flu-like symptoms and isolate them

Odisha recorded 11 coronavirus cases on Friday and there was no fatality due to the disease for the second straight day. There are 101 active Covid-19 cases and 14 more patients have recuperated, a health department bulletin said.

The daily positivity rate is 0.06 per cent and infections were detected out of 19,370 sample tests. Two children were among those who were afflicted with the disease, it said.

The state reported nine infections and no death on Thursday.

The toll remained at 9,124 and these have been confirmed as Covid deaths after an audit. 53 other coronavirus patients have died due to comorbidities so far, according to the health department data.

The state has logged total 12,87,979 cases, out of which 12,78,701 people have recovered so far, the data said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)