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20 students found Covid positive at two govt schools in Ludhiana
Deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma has ordered suspension of in-person classes at the two schools till August 24
Just second week into reopening amid the Covid-19 pandemic, two government schools in Ludhiana on Tuesday confirmed that their 20 students had contracted the infection.
Swinging into action, deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma ordered suspension of in-person classes at the two schools till August 24.
However, the schools will remain open to enable the health department to collect samples from all teachers and students.
According to health officials, 80 random samples were collected from Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Basti Jodhewal, and Government High School (GHS), Kailash Nagar, for rapid antigen tests on Monday.
“Among them eight students tested positive at GSSS, Basti Jodhewal, and 12 at GHS, Kailash Nagar. All students and teachers of both schools will be tested now,” said Dr Ramesh Bhagat, district epidemiologist.
Rajesh Kumar, principal of GSSS, Basti Jodhewal, said of the 500 students enrolled in the school, only 150 were attending offline classes: “The school is running in two shifts. Students of Classes 6 to 10 attend the morning shift and those of Classes 11 and 12 come in the afternoon shift. The positive students are all from Class 11.”
All infected students are under home quarantine and their health is being monitored.
As reopening of schools was considered to be a trigger of the second Covid wave earlier this year, the health department had recently started collecting 10,000 samples from schools across the state everyday to monitor the spread of infection among students.
Deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said the situation was being monitored closely and contact tracing of infected students was being carried out on a war footing.
