Karnataka: 15 students from nursing college test positive for Covid-19

Amid Omicron variant concerns, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said he will discuss Covid-19 vaccine booster doses for health and front line workers in the state.

As many as 15 more students have tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in two nursing colleges in Karnataka's Tumkur, the district health officer told news agency ANI on Wednesday. All the 15 infected individuals have been isolated at a quarantine centre and their samples have been sent for additional investigation.

Karnataka: Around 281 individuals, who either attended the party or were infected via people who did, have so far tested positive for Covid-19.  (File Photo )

This comes a day after 13 students of a government-run residential hostel in Hassan district and seven medical college students in Chamarajanagar tested positive for the coronavirus disease.

According to reports, many of the students who recently tested positive for the viral infection are from Kerala. Owing to fears surrounding the new Omicron variant, the state government has ramped up its testing and tracing measures.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the government intends to administer booster doses of vaccine to health and front line workers. Bommai said he will discuss it with Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

The chief minister added that there was no need for "unnecessary worry" on lockdown like measures and restrictions on Christmas and New Year celebrations, when social and economic activities are slowly picking up.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government has issued an advisory with the emergence of the new Covid-19 clusters and said that all social and cultural events, conferences, seminars, academic events, etc. in educational institutions may be postponed for two months.

The state government also mandated RT-PCR tests for those arriving from Kerala and Maharashtra not older than 72 hours, irrespective of their vaccination status. "Students arriving from Kerala to Medical and Paramedical colleges and other such institutions within Karnataka in the past 15 days (November 12 to November 27) shall be subjected to RT-PCR test," the order read.