Assam: Fresh Covid cases in Sivasagar schools

GUWAHATI: Alarm bells are ringing over reports of fresh Covid infection in several schools in upper Assam's Sivasagar district both in rural or urban areas. The state government last week made it mandatory for all employees, including pregnant women, to attend classes.
Detection of Covid cases in Sivasagar schools has been more worrying than the schools in Guwahati, sources in the education department said. Since Thursday, around 40 school students have been found Covid positive in the district where the daily rate of infection is far below capital Guwahati.
On Monday, in Barpatra Dol Uccha Vidyalay in Sivasagar, 15 students were found Covid positive. In another school, one student tested positive the same day. With this, students and teachers have got Covid infection in four schools in Sivasagar in the last five days.
Sivasagar deputy commissioner Megha Nidhi Dahal, however, told TOI that detection of new cases is revealing the true picture of several pockets in the district. "Since students from different families come to one school, random testing will help us detect Covid cases in the areas where the schools are located. Considering the current situation, we are planning to conduct Covid tests on all teachers by this week," said Dahal, who was hopeful of isolating positive cases in the schools before these spread infection in the community.
A few schools in Guwahati reported several positive cases this month, though no such reports have been received in the city in the last two days. In central Assam's Nagaon district, Covid infection has been reported in a junior college recently, whereas in lower Assam too, a few schools remained vulnerable to virus infection.
Despite concerns among the guardians, senior government officials said there is no need to close down all schools in any district of the state. Principal secretary to the education department, B Kalyan Chakravarthy, is in touch with the DCs constantly monitoring the campus situation.