The coronavirus cases in a residential school hostel in Seegodu village in Karnataka's Chikkamagalur district rose to 107 on Monday, December 6. District health authorities are present at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya school to monitor the COVID-19 situation and treat the infected children.
Initially, three students and four staff members of the school tested positive for coronavirus. Later on Saturday, the infected cases rose to 40 and on Sunday, 67 cases were detected. The health department has collected the swab samples of 418 students and all staff members and sent them for testing.
On Monday, 38 more cases were detected, taking the number of cases to 107. All students are asymptomatic and the residential school has been sealed. There has been a rising concern among the people of Chikkamagaluru over the cluster.
Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh said he would visit residential schools, including Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, in Chikkamagaluru on Tuesday or Wednesday. The Minister warned that if COVID-19 guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are not followed, strict action will be taken against school administrations.
The infection is not found much in the school children studying from classes 1 to 10, but there is an outbreak in residential schools. Every week five per cent of school children are tested randomly for COVID-19, he added.
Meanwhile, Tumakuru district reported 154 cases in the last 10 days. As many as 42 children aged above five years have tested positive. Among them, 18 are males and 24 are female students, said District Health Officer Nagendrappa.
Twenty-three nursing students got COVID-19 and 11 cases have been detected in Perumanahalli village. The health authorities have sent 35 swab samples for genomic sequencing, he added.