Balasore: More COVID cases have started pouring in from Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital in Odisha’s Balasore.
Among the 220 students, who had undergone the RT-PCR test, the result of 30 was found to be positive. “The number of cases among the students of the college could increase further,” said Balasore district COVID-19 nodal officer Dr Mrutyunjay Mishra said.
Notably, an undergraduate hostel of the college was declared a containment zone for a week on Tuesday after 15 students tested positive for the virus. All the infected students have been kept under isolation and necessary medical assistance is being provided to them by the district administration.
Mishra had earlier told TOI that one student of the college tested positive on Friday. Later, genome sequencing of his sample at the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, revealed that he had been infected with Omicron. He has been admitted to the Balasore district headquarters hospital.
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Later a random COVID test was conducted on the students of the institution after the detection of the Omicron case and their swab samples were sent for testing. Ten more students were found infected with the virus, he added.
Notably, Balasore reported 278 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, ending at 9 am on Thursday. With 1293 active cases, it is now the Orange zone. Till January 11, the district had a positivity rate of 66.%.
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