31 students at 2 Bengaluru schools test positive for Covid-19; 'no cause for concern,' says BBMP

The students were screened when a BBMP team that had gone to the schools to vaccinate the children, found some of them showing symptoms such as mild cold

Thirty-one children from two schools in Dasarahalli, North Bengaluru, have tested positive for Covid-19, an official said. Most of them are mildly symptomatic and none has been taken to hospital.

The students were screened when a BBMP team that had gone to the schools to vaccinate the children against Covid-19 found some of them showing symptoms such as mild cold. Tests followed, and some of them were found positive positive. The team then tested the students' classmates, and some more students were found carrying the infection, said K V Thrilok Chandra, Special Commissioner (Health), BBMP.

Twenty-one students are from one school and the rest from from another. Stating that there's no cause for concern, the BBMP official said the schools had not been closed and that uninfected students were allowed to attend the class. No teacher or any other member of the school staff tested positive either, he added.

Read | BBMP mandates masks in public places in Bengaluru amid Covid spike

A BBMP news release said the infected students were from classes 5 and 6. In order to prevent the further spread of the infection, authorities quarantined the students of the two classes and sanitised the school premises, it added.

In addition, vaccination drives are being conducted in the surrounding schools while educational institutions across the city have been instructed to intensify anti-Covid measures. Masks and frequent sanitisation are to be strictly enforced and temperature checks are to be conducted at the entrance, as per the BBMP's latest instructions.

Later in the day, BBMP authorities will be meeting the schools' association which will be asked to vaccinate eligible children and test all symptomatic students.

The BBMP is also taking steps to curb the spread of waterborne and insectborne diseases such as cholera and dengue by testing tapwater, borewell and RO plant water samples across the city and conducting site inspections to identify the breeding grounds for larvae.