Govt school in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur closed after 13 students test positive for Covid-19

Punjab health dept steps up sampling after students of second school in the district found infected with coronavirus

The government school at Palahar in Talwara block of Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district was shut down on Thursday after 13 students tested positive for Covid-19. All infected students are aged 16 years or below.

Thirteen students of the government school at Palahar in Talwara block of Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the authorities to close the institution for 10 days. (Representative photo)

Alarmed at the resurgence of Covid cases, the health department has stepped up sampling and ordered strict adherence to safety protocols. Recently, a government school in Hoshiarpur city was closed as three students tested positive for coronavirus infection.

District epidemiologist DP Singh said that samples of all possible contacts of the infected students were being taken and the school had been shut for 10 days.

The school authorities said that the entire campus had been sanitised. They, however, admitted that the mask-wearing norm was not being followed strictly.

Sources in the health department said that sampling for coronavirus was negligible. Random sampling in schools was done on the emergence of a positive case, they said. Non-vaccination of children could be the cause for spread of the infection, they added.