Another 22 fresh Covid-19 cases were detected at the SDM College of Medical Sciences on Sunday, taking the total number of infected students and staff to 306.
Cases are likely to go up as results on another 4,000 swab samples are yet to come in.
Shankar Patil Munenakoppa, minister in charge of the district, Arvind Bellad, local MLA, and Nitesh Patil, district deputy commissioner, visited the college on Sunday. Munenakoppa has directed the district administration to take all appropriate measures to control the spread.
“The situation is under control at the SDM campus and people need not worry,” Munenakoppa said. “However, the college and hospital will continue to remain a containment zone, which means a 500m radius around the college is out of bounds.”
The minister said the genesis of the cluster outbreak is a cultural event held at Dr Veerendra Hegde Kalakshetra from November 15 to 19. “Some students and parents who participated in the event had fever and cough and later tested positive,” Munenakoppa said. “So all 3,973 SDM doctors, students and staff were subjected to tests and 306 of them have tested positive so far.”
Bellad said of those who have tested positive, only three are symptomatic and none are critical. “The district administration has taken all possible precautionary measures. Every day 2,000 tests are being conducted in the district,” the MLA said.
Patil said all schools and colleges located within 500m of the SDM campus will stay closed till December 1.
