All schools in Uttar Pradesh will be closed till May 15 while board exams for classes 10 and 12 have been postponed till May 20 in view of rising COVID-19 cases, the state government said on Thursday.

The new dates for the board examinations will be decided in the first week of May, an official said. "Schools up to class 12 are being closed till May 15 and no examinations will also be held during this period. Also, UP board examinations for classes 10 and 12 have been postponed till May 20," the official said. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Uttar Pradesh Education Board examinations were scheduled to start from May 8. A night curfew from 8 pm till 7 am was imposed in 10 districts with more than 2,000 active COVID-19 cases, the official said. The districts are in Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kanpur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut and Gorakhpur, the official said.