BHUBANESWAR: AMID a rise in daily infection count in the State Capital after Dussehra, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked schools and other educational institutions that reopened recently for offline classes to conduct mass testing of students and staff at regular intervals to prevent transmission. The civic body will facilitate the testing camps.
Currently, offline classes are being held for students of Standard IX, X, XI, XII and that for Standard VIII will resume soon. A nodal officer of Covid-19 in BMC, said schools have been advised to conduct mass testing every fortnight. They will have to isolate students or staff having symptoms and immediately contact the civic body for testing of the Covid suspects as well as their close contacts.
As many students have returned to hostels after puja vacation, the educational institutes have also been asked to maintain vigil on the facilities. Random testing is being carried out in tribal hostels, while other government and private schools having hostels have also been asked to focus on testing to check transmission, the officer informed.
The daily caseload in Bhubaneswar continues to hover over 200. The city which reported 233 cases on Thursday reported another 231 cases on Friday. The infection rate in the below 18 years age group in the city has remained less than 10 per cent. Of the 231 cases reported in the last 24 hours, the cases in the under 18 age group was 14 (6 pc). To keep the Covid infection in check, the civic body has ramped up testing in the city. Around 8,197 tests were conducted in the Capital in the last 24 hours.
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