HASSAN: After Dharwad, Channarayapatna in Hassan district has reported a Covid-19 cluster as thirteen students of a government residential school tested positive for the virus on Monday.
The school authorities chose to get all the 200 students of the school tested on Sunday, based on the directions of the health department, after two students tested positive for the virus recently. When the test results were released on Monday, 13 students tested positive. Immediately, senior officials from the health and revenue departments paid a visit to the school to ensure that the students who tested positive and their primary contacts were quarantined. They were put up in a Covid-19 care centre nearby.
Subsequently, the school was sealed and sanitized.
Upon getting to know about a Covid cluster in the school, worried parents rushed to the school to take their children home.
Local MLA CN Balakrishna visited the school and directed the authorities to take precautionary measures and necessary care. The district administration is planning to hold a meeting with senior officials to discuss the way forward.
It may be remembered that the Covid positivity rate has come down to below one percent in the district. Commercial activities were also returning to normalcy given the reduced positivity rate. But the present cluster has triggered concern among the people.
It may be recalled that a medical college near Dharwad has reported 281 positive cases so far.
Meanwhile, a report said that Karnataka saw a 14% jump in Covid cases over the last seven days.