VIZIANAGARAM: As many as 27 Class 9 and 10 students of two Zilla Parishad high schools in Vizianagaram have tested positive for coronavirus. All of them had been going to school. Officials of the Education department said all precautions were in place at the schools, and the students may have contracted the virus elsewhere.
Collector M Hari Jawaharlal told the school managements not to open the institutions from Monday without permission from the District Education Officer. While 18 of the students who tested positive are from the Gantyada ZP high school, nine are from the ZP high school at Datti village in Dattirajeru mandal.
Gantyada Mandal Education Officer (MEO) G Vijaya Lakshmi said the local health official tested students and teachers at the school on September 30.
“About 108 people were tested, and 18 were found to beinfectedon Saturday,” Vijaya Lakshmi told TNIE.
Nine of the infectees are boys and nine are girls. Medical and health officials informed the parents about their children testing positive. “Only Class 9 and 10 students have been going to school, and we have been following all precautions strictly,” the MEO asserted.
Medical kits to be provided to children in home isolation
At the Datti ZP school, officials conducted tests on 120 students and 10 teachers, and the results of nine students returned positive. Six of these students were shifted to the JNTU Covid Care Centre, while the rest are in home isolation.
DM&HO Ramana Kumari said they have been identifying primary and secondary contacts of the students who tested positive. These students hail from different villages. “Luckily, they are asymptomatic,” she said, adding that a mega medical camp will be held in the villages on Sunday, and the fever survey in the mandal will be intensified.
School education commissioner V Chinna Veerabhadrudu said, “It does not mean the students contracted the virus at school. They are tested when they come to school for the first time. They must have contracted the virus elsewhere.” “A decision on whether to shut the school will be taken soon,” the commissioner said. Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) asked officials of the district medical and health department to monitor the health of the asymptomatic infected students, who are in home isolation. “As per the instructions of the CM, medical kits would be provided to the children in home isolation,” he said.
Mega med camp to be held today
The students who tested positive hail from different villages, DM&HO Rama-na Kumari said, adding that a mega medical camp will be held in the villages on Sunday, and the fever survey in the mandal will be intensified