Physical sessions for Classes IX to XII, which have been shut in Goa since the outbreak of COVID-19 last year, may resume before the Diwali festival, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said. An expert committee of doctors has given its go ahead for the resumption of these classes in a phased manner, Sawant told reporters on Wednesday.

The decision of the expert committee would be placed before the state COVID-19 Task Force, which will take a final call on it, he said. Once the task force gives its approval, the state education department would be informed and it will start the classes “step-by-step," the CM said.

"These classes may resume before Diwali," he said. Sawant said Classes X and XII, whose students have to appear for board exams, could resume first, followed by Classes IX and XI. "Depending on the infrastructure of schools, the classes will begin for classes 9 to 12 by following all COVID-19 protocols and norms," he added.

On Wednesday, Goa reported 83 new Coronavirus infections, which took its caseload to 1,76,318, while four fatalities raised the death toll to 3,312, a health department official earlier said. The number of recovered patients in the state rose to 1,72,176 on Wednesday and there were 830 active COVID-19 cases in the coastal state, he said.