Though it is a crime to speculate about this barely 8-9 days before exam, As a doctor I feel it should be postponed.. Metro cities especially Mumbai & Delhi are in early stage of exponential curve. Aspirants have to travel & stay in these cities in hotels for 10 days which make them easy prey for this new variant. Even milder disease at that juncture can prove disastrous.
Note:- though I feel so, chances of postponement are very low as UPSC won't do it unless pushed by Govt.. So better to focus on studies
It would be highly unwise of UPSC if it still goes ahead with the exam(majority of mains centres are showing 40% growth on daily basis). Please don't assume the illness to be mild, there is no guarantee that Omicron won't mutate further while ripping through population of 1.4 billion(same happened with delta and we came to know about it after all damage was already done.) Even Covid in its initial days was being dismissed as flu like illness.
Though there is no guarantee of postponement, this exam can surely wait for few weeks till we come out of exponential phase. Still if UPSC doesn't relent, it would be disappointing to see that how constitutional body is putting 8-9k students' (and their families) health at risk when it is completely avoidable.
Note:- You may label me as over anxious about this. But having seen deaths of even young adults as covid warrior, I am bound to value health more than any exam. After all 'prevention is always better than cure."
