33 Students Test COVID Positive, School Closed

Bengaluru: As many as 33 students tested positive for COVID-19 in a school in Karnataka, forcing authorities to shut the institution.

According to state health officials, the outbreak was reported at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, near Madikeri town in Kodagu district.

All of them are class 10 students and asymptomatic. They have been isolated.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya had reopened for students of classes 9 and 10 on September 20. “Within five days of reopening, two class 10 students reported fever. When they were tested, coronavirus was confirmed,” said a health department official.

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All class 10 students were then isolated and tested. Only after they returned negative tests did physical classes resstart.

A month later, two more students showed COVID-19 symptoms and tested positive.

A total of 270 class 10 students were then told to get tested for the coronavirus, of whom 33 were found to have contracted the disease on Wednesday.

A surge in COVID-19 cases has seen the positivity rate in Kodagu district jump to 1.21% after hovering around the 0.20% mark for some time.

The Karnataka government had reopened schools in all districts for classes 9 and 10 following a significant decrease in daily COVID cases in recent weeks.