HYDERABAD: As the threat of a second wave of COVID-19 in Telangana looms large, students continue to test positive at various schools and hostels in different parts of the State. In the past two days, 73 students studying in government residential schools and staying in welfare hostels have tested positive for COVID.
At Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Telangana Backward Classes Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (MJPTBCWREIS) in Palamakula near Shamshabad, 45 of the 846 students and a teacher tested positive for COVID-19.
On Thursday, a couple of students of the school had mild symptoms when the school decided to get all 846 students and around 40-50 staff members tested. The test results were known by late Friday. When parents were informed about it, many panicked and took their children home.
MJPTBCWREIS, regional coordinator, Yadaiah Goud, told The New Indian Express, "Most of the students who tested positive are asymptomatic. We have a separate isolation facility in three big halls, with three health supervisors to keep a tab on their health. We tried to convince the parents not to worry but around 20-25 students have been taken back home by their parents. Rest of the students are being taken care of at the school’s isolation facility and they are doing well."
Nine students of the BC Welfare Hostel for college girls at Aliabad in Hyderabad also tested positive on Sunday. An official from the hostel said, "The nine students tested positive after the Rapid Antigen Test, therefore, RT-PCR tests will also be conducted. They all have mild symptoms and are doing well. They have been kept at the hostel’s isolation facility."
In Khammam, around 15 students studying in classes 7-9 at the Zilla Parishad Secondary School in Pedamandava village tested positive on Saturday. On the same day, four students studying in the social welfare residential school in Bonakal also tested positive. The development has caused anxiety and fear among parents in the district, who are not willing to send their wards to the school.
Telangana sees 394 fresh COVID cases and 3 deaths
Telangana recorded 394 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths on Saturday. The State conducted 64,898 tests on the day and the reports of 698 were not received as on Sunday morning. Of the 394 positive cases, 84 were reported from the GHMC limits, 64 from Rangareddy and 34 from Medchal district. The number active cases now stand at 2,804.
The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in Telangana reached 3,03,118, of which 2,98,645 patients recovered while the number of fatalities reached 1,669. Meanwhile, 20 residents of an apartment at Gatta Centre in Khammam town tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. Six policemen of the town were also infected.