National Students' Union of India (NSUI) Goa president, Ahraz Mulla on Wednesday wrote a letter to Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant asking for physical classes for educational institutes to be called off due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This comes after new Coronavirus cases were reported in two of Goa's schools.

"NSUI Goa is concerned about the entire community and to keep everyone safe during these times while we await a vaccine, we strongly demand the Director of Education call off all classes until further notice or test all students and the faculty before conducting classes," Ahraz Mulla said in the letter.

He further urged the government to act swiftly to contain the number of cases in school and have more sustainable education methods.

Schools across the country had been shut in March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the last few weeks, many states including Punjab, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh, among others, have reopened schools for students of senior classes.

Meanwhile, Suchitra Ella, joint managing director of Bharat Biotech announced that Covaxin, a vaccine for COVID-19, would be available in the first quarter of next year.

As per the Union health ministry, there are currently 1,310 active cases in Goa.

The total tally of positive COVID cases in the state stands at 46,924, including 701 deaths.