Students wearing face masks prepare to take the 2020 General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Examination (GCE A/L Examination) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Oct. 12, 2020. (Photo by Ajith Perera/Xinhua)
COLOMBO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Education Ministry held a grade five scholarship examination across the country on Sunday and the Advanced Level examination on Monday.
The exam was held under strict health guidelines as a new cluster detected on the outskirts of capital Colombo raised the total COVID-19 patient count to above 4,700, local media reported on Monday.
Education Ministry officials said the Grade 5 scholarship exam was held in leading schools across the country and 331,694 candidates sat for the exam at 2,936 examination centers.
In the Gampaha district, where the new cluster was detected last Sunday, close to 6,000 students sat for the Grade 5 scholarship examination, while 7,000 students sat for the Advanced Level exam on Monday, Education Ministry officials said.
Further, five students receiving treatment at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (IDH), located on the outskirts of Colombo, sat for the exam at the hospital premises. The students were invigilated by an official of the Department of Examinations, local media reported.
Strict health guidelines were in place in all the centers while the government information department said steps had been taken to separate train compartments for students to travel to their examination centers.
Till Monday evening, 4,842 COVID-19 patients were reported in Sri Lanka since the first local patient was detected in March, with 1,397 patients being from the new Minuwangoda cluster.
The island country has reported 13 deaths from COVID-19 infection. Enditem
