Student in Ranikhet tests COVID-19 positive as schools reopen in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: An 18-year-old student tested positive for COVID-19 at Ranikhet in Uttarakhand's Almora district on Monday as most schools reopened across the state after remaining closed for eight months due to the pandemic.

A student of class 12 has tested positive at a school in Ranikhet.

Over a dozen students who had come in contact with him have been put under isolation and the school has been sealed for three days, district administration sources said.

While the infected student is under treatment, the samples of students currently under isolation have been sent for testing and their reports are awaited, they said.

Most schools reopened in Uttarakhand for Classes 10 and 12 on Monday after remaining closed for eight months due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the students' attendance remained thin.

However, many leading schools did not reopen saying they will reopen after Diwali.

The prevailing sense of insecurity among people due to the pandemic reflected in the number of students attending the classes which remained limited to 20 per cent, a school official said.

Schools that reopened on Monday strictly followed the COVID-19 guidelines permitting students to enter the premises with their face masks on only after their thermal screening.

Prayer assemblies were not held due to social distancing norms.

School buildings were thoroughly sanitised before the gates were thrown open and students who did not come wearing any face covers were offered masks at the gates.

They were allowed to occupy alternate benches inside their classrooms, school authorities here said.

Several private schools that did not open on Monday said they will open for Classes 10 and 12 after Diwali.

The state government had recently permitted schools to reopen only for Classes 10 and 12 from November 2 after a cabinet decision to this effect last month.

The schools had been instructed to allow only 50 per cent of students to attend the classes everyday wearing masks and maintaining social distancing norms besides sanitisation of hands, classes and school buses transporting them to their schools at regular intervals.

However, parents were unwilling to let their wards resume classes as COVID cases are still on the rise in the state.