School and mass education minister S R Dash, in a statement, said the decision was taken after officials visited various primary schools across the state and held discussions with the stakeholders.

''Keeping in view the rise in number of daily cases and based on the feedback provided by parents across the state, we have decided not to reopen schools for students of Classes 1 to 5 from January 3,'' he stated.

Dash, however, maintained that physical classes for students of classes 6 to 10 will continue for now. He also said that offline examination, as scheduled earlier, will be conducted adhering to COVID-19 protocols.

Odisha on Sunday registered 424 more coronavirus cases. Sixty-seven of the new patients are children below 18 years of age.

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