As educational institutions reopen, 60 students of XI & XII test Covid +ve in a school at Bengaluru

Sept. 29: A residential school in Bengaluru has become a COVID-19 cluster after 60 of its nearly 500 students tested positive. Of the 60 students who have tested positive, one student, who had high fever, has been admitted to Lady Curzon and Bowring Hospital, one is under home quarantine, while the remaining 58 students are under quarantine in the hostel. The school, which had reopened on September 5, will now remain closed till October 20.

G. Srinivas, District Health Officer, told of the 105 students who underwent Rapid Antigen Test, 27 tested positive; and of the 424 students who took the RT-PCR test, 33 tested positive. With the news of the cluster spreading, parents started gathering at the school wanting to take back their wards home. Dr. Srinivas said one student had already been sent with her parents to Hosur.

Karnataka recently allowed schools to open for in-person classes for Class 6 to Class 8, while requiring students and staff to follow strict COVID-19 safety protocols. Only schools in taluks where the positivity rate is below two per cent were allowed to re-open. Under the new rules students had to submit a consent letter from parents or guardians to attend the in-person classes, and these were not compulsory since online classes continue to be held.