26 students found Covid-19 positive in Odisha school

Bhubaneswar: At least 26 girl students of a government residential school in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district were found Covid-19 positive while samples of another 15 students were sent for testing, officials said on Saturday.

The students belong to Chamakpur residential High School under Thakurmunda block in the district.

As some students were taken ill last Thursday, the school authorities conducted Covid-19 tests.

Out of the tested students, 26 students' report came out positive for the virus while swab samples of 15 other students have been sent to Baripada District Headquarters Hospital for testing, said the officials.

Karanjia Sub-Collector Rajnikant Biswal, along with a medical team, visited the school on Saturday.

As per sources, the boarding school for tribal students has a total of 256 students and 20 staff members.

"We have sanitised the school and tests have been done. All the positive students have been put in isolation in the school and medicines are being given. A doctors' team is here and we are keeping a close eye on the students," said Biswal.

An ambulance has been stationed there. Besides, the school has been declared as a containment zone, as per the instructions of the Collector, he added.

On November 23, at least 53 students of a girls' High School in Sundergarh district had tested positive for Covid-19. Similarly, 31 students of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Burla in the state had also tested positive for the virus.