54 students test Covid positive in army school in Haryana
Fifty four students of a school near Karnal in Haryana have tested positive for the cororonavirus disease (Covid-19) leading to suspension of classes and other academic activities, an official said on Tuesday.
Karnal chief medical officer ( CMO) Yogesh Sharma said three students of Sainik School Kunjpura had tested positive for the virus on Monday following which the health department took samples of 390 students and staff members of the school for testing.
“The reports revealed that 54 students are Covid-19 positive,” Sharma said.
Deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the school building and its hostels have been declared as a containment zone. The Sainik Schools are run by the Sainik Schools Society under the ministry of defence and the students stay in hostels.
The school authorities said that the infected students are in the age group of 14 and 17 and study in classes of 9 to 12 and over 50 students are asymptomatic and only a few of them have low grade fever.
More than 50 students of a school in Haryana’s Karnal have tested positive for Covid- 19, news agency ANI reported citing a medical official on Tuesday.
“Fifty- four students of a school hostel have tested positive for Covid-19... Our medical teams have reached the spot and the hostel is being marked as a containment zone,” Yogesh Kumar Sharma, Karnal’s civil surgeon, was quoted as saying by ANI.
Haryana had allowed students from Classes 9 to 12 to go to return to schools in December and reopened Classes 3 to 5 from February 24. The government also decided to start regular classes for students of 1 and 2 from Monday. It said in an official statement that the school timings will be from 10am to 1.30 pm. Parents have been asked to submit a consent letter to the school head or class teacher before sending their children to schools. And those who want their children to continue classes online can to do so, it said.
Schools have been asked have to follow all Covid-19 related guidelines and SOPs. The statement said that each school will be divided into three wings. If a student in a wing is found to be Covid-19 positive, that wing will be closed for 10 days and the entire school will be sanitised, it added. If students in more than one wing are found to be infected, the entire school will be closed for 10 days, it also said.