Amid fears of a third wave, 82 students from two institutions test positive for Covid in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Amid fears of a third Covid wave in the state, a cluster outbreak of Covid-19 cases was reported from two educational institutions in Sundargarh and Sambalpur districts on Tuesday.

At least 53 students of St Mary Girls High School in Sundargarh town were placed in isolation after they tested positive for Covid-19, while around 29 MBBS students from Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla in Sambalpur also tested positive for the virus on the day.

Informing about the cluster outbreak of Covid cases in the private school in Sundargarh, District Education Officer (DEO) AK Pradhan said a girl student suddenly fell unconscious for some medical reason on November 19. While undergoing treatment, her test report came positive for Covid-19. Another student close to her also tested positive for the virus, after which the school management decided to go for mass testing.

The confirmatory tests reports of the students came on Monday evening and saw 51 more students testing positive. This took the total number of students infected with the virus to 53. All the students found infected are hostel boarders studying in Class VIII, IX and X.

The DEO said all infected students are asymptomatic and undergoing treatment in isolation.

The private missionary school has a student strength of 678 students. To prevent transmission, school authorities said they have decided to suspend offline classes for seven days.

Meanwhile, officials of VIMSAR Burla in Sambalpur conducted an emergency meeting and proposed that the district administration declare the campus a micro-containment zone.

Sources said the medical students developed Covid symptoms following their annual function UTKARASH-2021 on the campus. As many as 22 students tested positive following their antigen test at the hospital on Monday. The contact tracing led to the detection of another seven cases. Most of them are first-year students.

The infected students have been kept under isolation and their health condition is being monitored constantly, VIMSAR authorities said.