Kerala tuition centre turns ‘super spreader’

MALAPPURAM: A private tuition centre, attended by as many as 91 students of a government school at Marancherryin Ponnani here, who had recently tested positive, is suspected to be a ‘super-spreader’ of Covid-19, authorities said.

The tuition centre was sealed on Monday, Ramesh Kumar, district education officer, Tirur, told PTI. Even as more students, teachers and parents are being subjected to RT-PCR tests, following the unprecedented infection spike among students and teachers in two schools at nearby Ponnani, it has been found that the spread has come from a private tuition centre, where students used to go for coaching classes, he said.

Apart from the Marancherry and Vanneri schools, a few more schools in the vicinity have been closed for the timebeing to arrest the spread.

At least 22 students of these schools, whohad also attended classes at the tuition centre,have been isolated and they would undergo RT-PCR tests on Wednesday.

Depending on their test results, it would be decided if higher secondary students in and around this area should also be subjected to Covid-19 tests. “We have broken a chain.Otherwise the situation would have been worse,” the official said.

As many as 148 students and 37 teachers of the Maranchery school and 42 students and 42 teachers of the Vanneri HSS have tested positive till now.

“More students and teachers are being subjected to testing to trace positive cases,” Ramesh Kumar said.