TUMAKURU: Three days ahead of the SSLC examination, a student tested positive for COVID-19 at the Siddaganga Mutt on Friday, leaving over 900 boys staying there and the staff in a state of panic.
The student had gone to his native Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and returned on June 15 as he had to write the examination. Kurnool has been a hotbed of COVID-19 and his throat swab sample tested positive there.
As the news spread, the administration isolated him at the designated hospital for COVID-19 treatment besides drawing samples for the test afresh. "He is asymptomatic and the results from the laboratory here will arrive by late in the night," informed an official.
Three of his roommates at the Siddaganga Mutt have been institutionally quarantined at a hostel in the city, he added.
There were about 150 students just a week ago and the rest returned as the government had decided to hold the SSLC examination. They mingle with each other and also share the bathrooms and toilets. There is also a lack of awareness about the COVID-19 guidelines among the students.
Meanwhile, the array of ministers and politicians thronging the Mutt to take the blessings of Sri Siddalinga Swamiji, the present head, also contributed to the lack of discipline amongst the students as some of them came out of their rooms out of curiosity, a staff member observed.
"The situation is grim and we are looking at the district administration to help us handle it," remarked the administrative officer Vishwanathaiah.