Rush at KEAM exam centre in containment zone panics all

KOCHI: Nearly 450 students and their parents braved the Covid-19 lockdown to enter Ayyappankavu, a containment zone since Sunday, for the Kerala Engineering Architecture Medical (KEAM) entrance examinations on Thursday.

“It’s surprising and worrying at the same time,” said Johnson Mathew, president of Welcome Road Residents’ Association at Ayyappankavu. The Sree Narayana HS and HSS at Ayyappankavu was one of the centres for KEAM examinations. The school comes under Ward 69 or Thrikkanarvattom division, which is under lockdown since Sunday midnight.

While 254 out of 300 students wrote the examination at SN High School, 197 out of 240 students wrote the exams at the SN HSS. What created a sense of fear among the residents is the huge rush at the school and nearby areas since the morning without adhering to the social distancing and other Covid protocols. “The authorities could have averted the situation by avoiding the Covid lockdown areas as examination centres,” said Johnson.