In major outbreak, 33 students in Bengaluru boarding school test Covid-19 positive

As many as 33 students and a staff member tested positive for Covid-19 at a private unaided (boarding) school on Thursday in Dommasandra near Sarjapura.

The major outbreak comes amidst schools shutting physical classes after reporting Covid-19 positive cases in the last few weeks, leaving parents in a fix.

Bengaluru Urban District Health Officer (DHO) Srinivas G said over 497 students and the staff had been tested and 34 were found positive. “Of the 34 students, 33 are aged less than 18 and one is a fully vaccinated staff member.”

Srinivas said 32 of them have been isolated in line with the Covid-19 guidelines at the school’s medical centre in Dommasandra, while none have been admitted
to hospital.

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Parents of some students have taken them to Nagpur and Hyderabad and the District Surveillance Officer (DSO) (Bengaluru) has sent cross notification to the respective state administrations.

“All positive patients are asymptomatic,” the DHO said. “The school has been sealed and marked as a containment zone. Steps are taken to test all primary and secondary contacts, as well as the remaining students.”

On Thursday, DSO Bengaluru, Anekal taluk health officer, and Dommasandra’s medical officer visited the school. “Containment measures have been taken,” Srinivas added, revealing that one Class 8 student, 12 in Class 9, eight in Class 10, three from Class 11 and nine from Class 12 were among the infected.

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Tracing the cause

Health department officials suspect that two students who were not in boarding school and live in Mahadevapura Zone may have triggered the outbreak. The two had come to the school with Covid-19 symptoms.

“During tests, the two students were found to be Covid-19 positive. Post that, all students were tested and 33 who were either primary or secondary contacts have tested positive in the school,” the official added.

Two days’ leave has been granted to the school and online classes will resume subsequently as exams are scheduled for Monday.

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Similar incidents

A week ago, a private school in Basaveshwaranagar was closed for five days after two students tested positive.

Prior to that, one child tested positive at a school in Bengaluru South, following which it was shut for five days.

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