50 nursing college students test positive for Covid-19 in Himachal

Private college in Palampur closed, students quarantined in hostel after first case detected a week ago

Fifty students of a private nursing college in Palampur town of Kangra district have tested positive for Covid-19 over the past three days, prompting the authorities to close the institution as per the protocol.

A student staying in the hostel reported mild symptoms and tested positive about a week ago. Girls on the same floor underwent the coronavirus test and 18 of them were found positive after which all 268 students were tested and 31 more were found to have contracted Covid-19. (Representative photo)

Kangra chief medical officer Dr Gurdarshan Gupta gave a clean chit to the authorities of Netaji Subhash College of Nursing, saying there was no lapse on their part though students may have been negligent in following the Covid safety guidelines. “The spread is limited to the campus as the students stay in the hostel and did not leave the institution,” Dr Gupta said.

A student staying in the hostel reported mild symptoms and tested positive about a week ago. Girls on the same floor underwent the coronavirus test and 18 of them were found positive on Sunday.

Later, all 268 students in the institution were tested and 31 more were found to have caught the infection, said Dr Gupta.

The students are quarantined in the hostel.

State sees rise in cases in February

Himachal Pradesh has seen a 10% increase in positive cases in February.

The state recorded 360 positive cases in the first week of February as compared to 326 cases in the last week of January. A total of 180 cases have been added to the tally in three days of the second week.

The rise in cases has been seen since January 30 when 50 schoolteachers tested positive in Mandi district. At present, nearly 150 teachers have tested positive for coronavirus in the state.

So far, 58,076 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the state since the outbreak last March, while the number of recoveries has reached 56,600.

Shimla is the worst-hit district with 10,422 cases, followed by Mandi with 10,214, and Kangra with 8,294 cases. Solan has 6,746 cases, Kullu 4,429, Sirmaur 3,458, Hamirpur 3,043, Chamba 2,966, Bilaspur 2,931, Una 2,945, Kinnaur 1,370, and Lahaul-Spiti has 1,258 cases.

The state has conducted 9.87 lakh Covid-19 tests so far.