5 cats caught from COVID-19 ward in Kerala die; Organs to be examined
Kasargod (Kerala): Five stray cats caught from a COVID-19 ward of the general hospital here have died, prompting officials to send the vital organs of the animals for detailed examination in Thiruvananthapuram.
Officials on Thursday said a preliminary postmortem carried out here did not detect any "trace of COVID-19" and experts opined stress could be the reason behind the death of the cats, which were kept in a crate with little aeration after being caught.
The animal husbandry department officials decided to send their vital organs of the cats -- two male, a female and her two kittens -- to the State Institute of Animal Disease Centre in Thiruvananthapuram for detailed examinations, they said.
"Since the cats were caught from the COVID ward, the postmortem was conducted. No trace of COVID-19 could be detected... we decided to send the internal organs to Thiruvananthapuram," Dr Tito Joseph, who conducted the postmortem, told PTI.
If needed, the organs would be sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) lab in Bhopal for further examination, Joseph, who is the Kasargod district coordinator of animal disease control project, said.
The cats were found loitering in the COVID-19 wards before being caught on March 28 by dog snatchers engaged by the Department of Animal Husbandry following a directive from the District Collector based on complaints.
They were then kept in a crate with little aeration.
The female cat died two days after it was put up in the crate kept at the Animal Birth Control Centre in Kasaragod. Later, two more cats and the kittens died, officials said.
Thomas said the workers engaged by the department had provided food, including milk, to the cats while being kept in the crate. Experts, including Joseph, said they believe that stress could be the reason for the death of the cats.
"The stray cats were caged immediately. It is certain that they could not adapt to the situation in the crate. So we believe stress could be the reason for their death. But since it happened during COVID-19 scare we cannot take a chance.
That is the reason why a detailed examination of the internal organs of the cats was decided," Joseph said.
The Animal Husbandry Departments epidemiologist M J Sethulakshmi, part of the team of doctors who conducted the postmortem, said "no signs" of COVID-19 could be detected during the procedure.
The death of the cats come at a time when the government has put zoos in the country on highest alert and asked them to collect samples fortnightly in suspected cases after a tiger at a US zoo tested positive for coronavirus.
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New Delhi, Apr 26: The Ministry of Education has asked the CBSE to work out logistics for conducting board exams twice a year from the 2025-26 academic session, according to sources.
The plan for introducing a semester system has been ruled out, they said.
The ministry and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will hold consultations with school principals next month for conducting board exams twice a year, the sources said.
The CBSE is currently in the process of working out the modalities of how will the academic calendar be structured to accommodate another set of board exams without impacting the undergraduate admission schedule, they said.
"The ministry has asked the CBSE to work on the logistics of how will board exams be conducted twice a year. The board is working out the modalities and a consultation will be organised next month with school principals," a source said.
"The idea being explored is to conduct two editions of the board exams at the end of the year from the 2025-26 academic session but the modalities still need to be worked out. However, there is no plan to implement the semester system," the source added.
The ministry's initial plan was to introduce biannual board exams from the 2024-25 academic session, however, it has been pushed back by a year.
The new national curriculum framework (NCF), prepared by the Union government-appointed national steering company which was led by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, proposed a semester system for students of classes 11 and 12.
The framework, which was released by the ministry in August last year, also proposed that the students be given the option to write their board exams twice a year.
"The CBSE right now is brainstorming on the schedule so students can get maximum benefit and the goal of making board exams stress-free can be achieved. However, logistics is a challenge which needs to be addressed, conducting exams is tiresome so the plan has to be flawless," the source said.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had last October told PTI in an interview that appearing for board exams twice a year won't be mandatory for students.
"The students will have the option of appearing for the (class 10 and 12 board) exams twice a year just like the engineering entrance exam JEE. They can choose the best score… but it will be completely optional, no compulsion," he had said.
However, this is not the first attempt at reforming board exams. The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) was introduced for Class 10 in 2009 but was revoked in 2017 and the board reverted to the old model of year-end exams.
The board exams for classes 10 and 12 were also split into two terms during the Covid pandemic as a one-time measure, but the old format of year-end exams resumed this year.
