Teen positive: 36 students, 9 teachers to be tested

MUMBAI: After a 15-year-old student who wrote his Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam recently was tested positive for Covid-19, the civic body’s education department has submitted a list of 36 students and nine teachers who might have come in his contact, to the health department on Monday. These 36 people will now be tested for coronavirus.

The boy, a student of a private school near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), is reported to have been infected by a ‘close contact’, according to the list prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The student reportedly wrote his history paper on Saturday at a BMC school in south

Mumbai, after which he got himself tested.

On Monday, the health department had asked the education department to share details of those who might have come in contact with the student. “The names, addresses and contact numbers of the students were shared with the health department,” said Mahesh Palkar, education officer, BMC.

On Tuesday, a teacher from the school who was on supervision duty for the exam reported of having sore throat. “We have asked the teacher to get tested for the virus,” said the principal of the school of the student’s centre. The school has also collated the data of all the non-teaching staff , which will be sent to the health department. “As all the students come out of the exam hall at the same time, we will share details of all those who were present at the centre,” the principal said.

There were 353 students in the centre in various blocks. “According to the supervisors, the infected student was wearing a mask, but we were not informed that the student had any symptoms until we heard from the health department yesterday,” said the principal.