COVID-19 hits Odisha schools once again, 26 students test positive in Mayurbhanjh district

The fear of an impending third wave of the pandemic has intensified as a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases is being witnessed in several educational institutes, the latest surge being recorded in the Mayurbhanjh district of Odisha.

Over 26 students from the Chamakpur Tribal Residential Girls’ School in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district have tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, according to the district administrator. The students infected with COVID-19 have been kept in isolation in the school campus itself.

After the large influx of cases was reported from the Odisha school, the authorities also started contact tracing and mass testing. As per India Today reports, Karanjia sub-district magistrate Rajnikant Biswal said that a team of doctors is monitoring the situation inside the school.

Biswas further said that if the situation in the girls’ school gets worse, the patients will be shifted to a nearby hospital. Further, the area now has been declared a COVID-19 containment zone and the school authorities are sanitizing the premises twice each day.

As a COVID-19 safety protocol, the samples of other students residing in the school are being collected by authorities to make sure that the virus has not spread any further. The COVID-19 tests were carried out in the school after several students reported symptoms including cold and cough.

Earlier this month, new COVID-19 cases were also reported from a medical college in Odisha. As many as 29 students from the VIMSAR Medical College in Sambalpur district had tested positive for the virus, while 53 students were tested positive for COVID-19 from a government-aided school in Sundergarh.

Though a considerably large number of COVID-19 cases is being reported from Odisha in the past few days, the overall COVID-19 tally in the state remains low, with just 219 new cases recorded on Friday, which is significantly less than the cases recorded on the previous day.

The fear among citizens has further intensified as a new variant of COVID-19 called Omicron has been detected in South Africa, among other countries, and can prove to be deadlier than the previously detected variants. The Centre has already imposed strict travel guidelines for passengers arriving from several countries.