Covid-19 spread in girls’ high schools in Odisha

ANGUL: Two more educational institutions in the State reported Covid-19 cases among students on Tuesday, December 7, 2021. As many as 10 students of Balipata Girls’ High School in Angul district and nine of Kasturba Girls’ High School in Jajpur tested positive on the day. 

Block development officer (BDO) of Angul’s Chhendipada Sanjay Kumar Mishra said of the total 59 inmates of the hostel of Balipata Girls High School, 10 were infected with the virus. Their blood samples were collected on Monday for test and the reports arrived on the day. 

All the infected students have been isolated in the hostel. “Contact tracing is underway. We will collect samples of other boarders for tests,” Mishra added. A total of 250 students are enrolled in Classes I to X of the school.

Chief district medical officer (CDMO) Trilochan Pradhan said the condition of the infected students is stable and they don’t have any symptom. A medical team from Kosala hospital visited them on the day and provided necessary medicines. The reason behind the virus spread among students is yet to be ascertained, he added.

Similarly, nine students of Kasturba Girls’ High School in Jajpur’s Dasarathpur block tested positive for Covid-19.Sources said some students of the residential school showed symptoms following which their swab samples were collected and sent for tests. The reports of nine students, enrolled in Class VI and IX, came positive. As many as 182 students reside in the school hostel.  

The infected students were placed under isolation and the school premises sanitised. Classroom teaching has been suspended in the school. Jajpur Collector Chakravarti Singh Rathore said, “As a precautionary measure, all students and employees of the schools including teachers have undergone Covid-19 test. If anyone is found infected, we will start treatment immediately.”  

Earlier this month, 56 students of a private residential college at Kunjakanta in Dhenkanal tested positive for Covid-19. In Sambalpur’s Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences And Research (VIMSAR), 74 MBBS students have been infected so far.