Educational Institutions Turn COVID Clusters In Odisha’s Sundargarh; 89 Schools Students Infected

Rourkela: COVID-19 cases are spiralling in Odisha’s Sundargarh and it is spreading like wildfire in educational institutions. The affected tally in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Sargipali, touched 89 with 53 more students testing positive for the virus on Wednesday.

Sundargarh sub-collector Abhimanyu Behera informed that the school campus has been declared a micro containment zone and the infected students have been kept in isolation at the school’s hostel.

“A health team had insisted on isolating those infected in the hostel but parents demanded their children’s custody and took them home after giving written undertakings. Rapid response teams (RRTs) will be keeping a watch on the health condition of the students in home isolation,” said chief district medical officer (CDMO) Dr SK Mishra said.

Similarly, the number of cases in the National Institute of Technology-Rourkela (NIT-R) touched 35 on Wednesday with 13 students and 22 employees and their family members testing positive for COVID-19.

“About 110 professors of NIT-R are from West Bengal. They have just returned after spending the winter vacation at their native place. Unlike students, there is no testing protocol for faculty members, employees and their families. We are expecting more cases on campus unless checked,” said a source.

Safety guidelines like wearing masks have also been flouted, leading to the rise in cases, the sources added.

Notably, Sundargh has reported 262 fresh infections in the last 24 hours against 166 the previous day. The R-value at 2.38 between December 28 and January 2, is also the highest in the state, according to Chennai-based Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) researchers.