The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations on Thursday said it has postponed Class 10 and Class 12 board exams amid the rising cases of coronavirus in the country. The Central Board of Secondary Education had on Wednesday postponed board exams, scheduled between March 19 and March 31.

“In view of the Novel Corona virus (COVID-19) spreading across the country...the Council in the interest of the health and well-being of the students and the teaching community, has decided to postpone all ICSE and ISC Year 2020 Examinations scheduled to be conducted between the period 19th March 2020 to 31st March 2020,” the statement read. “The ICSE 2020 Examination was scheduled to end on 30th March 2020 and the ISC 2020 Examination was scheduled to end on 31st March 2020.”

The board said the revised dates will be notified in due course of time, and instructed heads of schools to inform students, teachers, and parents immediately.

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Late on Wednesday, CISCE’s Chief Executive and Secretary Gerry Arathoon had said that exams were not postponed and will be conducted as per schedule. “The exams have not been postponed and will be held as per schedule as of now,” he had told PTI.

The development came after the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Wednesday directed the CBSE and all other educational institutions in the country to postpone exams till March 31 amid rising cases of coronavirus in the country. The CBSE in a statement said Class 10 and Class 12 exams that were scheduled between March 19 and March 31 will be rescheduled after “re-assessment of the situation”.

India’s Union health ministry has confirmed that 166 people have been infected with the virus so far. Out of these cases, 14 have recovered and three people were killed.