In view of rising COVID-19 cases in the state, the Assam government on Friday announced that schools up to Vth standard will remain close till January 30 across the state, both state and private, fron Saturday (January 8).

However, standards 9-11 will have their classes held three days in a week. This was stated in the fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the state government to tackle the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

"We fear that the peak of the third wave will hit Assam by the end of this month. And this time it's expected to be much higher. It may reach to around 10,000-12,000 Covid cases daily."

 "Since the result of Omicron testing is time consuming, the state government has decided to take every fresh case of Covid19 as a case of Omicron case technically. Our assessment says that Omicron has already hit Assam," he added.

"All classes upto class V will be closed from now till January 30 in Assam except Guwahati. In Guwahati, classes upto VIII will be shuts down," he further said.

Moreover, the  education department will issue a detailed SOP on Saturday regarding schools and colleges.