Three days after schools reopened in Tamil Nadu, three teachers and three students from different parts of the State tested positive for COVID-19.
A Class X student of a government high school near Thiruchengode tested positive late on Thursday, and is undergoing treatment. The Health Department has collected samples from the student’s contacts.
Health officials said that close to 560 samples of students and teachers were collected randomly in Namakkal district and only one sample returned positive.
A Class IX student of a private school in Ariyalur town and a Class XII student of a private school at Varadharajanpettai, both in Ariyalur district, tested positive on Friday. Health officials have undertaken containment measures, and will test the other students and contacts. Both had attended classes on Wednesday and Thursday.
Collector P. Ramana Saraswathi inspected the school in Ariyalur on Friday morning and instructed officials to conduct tests on students who shared the classroom with the two. Officials have also been instructed to clean, disinfect and seal the two classrooms for 48 hours.
A secondary teacher attached to a government school at Cuddalore tested positive on Thursday. The School Education Department had made testing mandatory for teachers of all government schools. The teacher complained of fever on Thursday, and was sent home. Her test results returned positive on Thursday night. The teacher did not interact with students as regular classes have not commenced for Classes I-VIII. The teacher had received both doses of the vaccine.
Two teachers of Jawahar Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Neyveli, run the NLCIL, tested positive on Friday.
The staff members of the school underwent tests a few days ago. The results in respect of the two returned positive. Both are asymptomatic.
