33 students test COVID +ve at school in K'taka's Kodagu; school shut

Bengaluru: Authorities shut a school near Madikeri town in Karnataka’s Kodagu district after at least 33 students at the institution tested positive for Covid-19.

According to health officials, the outbreak was reported at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Galibeedu village.

School authorities told government health officials that the cases were confirmed after Class 10 students were tested for Covid-19.

The state government had reopened in-person classes for classes 9 and 10 in all its districts after the daily Covid-19 case tally dipped in recent weeks.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya was among the schools that reopened on September 20. “Within five days of reopening, two students reported fever. When they were tested, coronavirus [infection] was confirmed,” said a health department official.

After that case, all Class 10 students were isolated and tested. Classes reopened after their tests were negative.

A little over a month after that episode, two more students showed symptoms of Covid-19 and later tested positive.

Around 270 Class 10 students were then tested for the virus, and 33 of them tested positive on Wednesday.

All 33 students are asymptomatic and have been isolated.

While the positivity rate in the district stood at 0.19% on Tuesday, it rose to 1.21% on Wednesday following the detection of the new cluster of Covid-19 cases.