Karnataka school shut after 33 students test Covid positive

Authorities had to shut down a school near Madikeri town in Karnataka’s Kodagu district after at least 33 students at the institution tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. According to health officials, the outbreak was reported at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Galibeedu village.

School authorities told government health officials that the cases were confirmed after Class 10 students were tested for Covid-19. The state government had reopened in-person classes for classes 9 and 10 in all its districts after the daily Covid-19 case tally dipped in recent weeks.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya was among the schools that reopened on September 20. “Within five days of reopening, two students reported fever. When they were tested, coronavirus [infection] was confirmed,” said a health department official.

After that case, all Class 10 students were isolated and tested. Classes reopened after their tests turned negative.

A little over a month after that episode, two more students showed symptoms of Covid-19 and later tested positive. Around 270 Class 10 students were then tested for the virus, and 33 of them tested positive on Wednesday.

All 33 students are asymptomatic and have been isolated. While the positivity rate in the district stood at 0.19% on Tuesday, it rose to 1.21% on Wednesday following the detection of the new cluster of Covid-19 cases.

Pankajashan, the principal of the school said that the condition of any student is of concern. “There is nothing to worry about. The entire campus has been sanitised and other precautionary measures are being taken. The interaction between students and teachers is going on though it has affected the smooth functioning of the school,” he said.

The district collector, district health officer, and other officials visited the school and said that appropriate measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the students and prevent further infection.

Karnataka on Thursday reported 365 new cases of Covid-19 and 8 deaths, taking the caseload to 29,84,849 and death toll to 37,984, the health department said. The day also saw 443 discharges, pushing the total number of recoveries to 29,37,848, leaving 8,988 active cases.

Bengaluru Urban accounted for 210 new infections, as the city saw 220 discharges and 4 deaths.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 0.31 per cent, the case fatality rate (CFR) was at 2.19 per cent.

After Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada and Hassan each logged the highest of 33 fresh cases, Mysuru 17 and Shivamogga 12. Bengaluru Urban district now has a total of 12,50,125 positive cases, followed by Mysuru 1,78,862 and Tumakuru 1,20,617.