HYDERABAD: As many as 48 students of a government gurukul school at Muthangi village in Sangareddy district, about 50 km from Hyderabad, tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. A teacher also tested positive.
This is the third incident of students testing positive in educational institutions of Telangana in the last 10 days. Mahindra University near Hyderabad was shut down after 25 students and five staff members tested positive for the virus last week.
Reports of the students of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Gurukul School came positive in the rapid antigen test (RAT). It all began when a girl student from Adilabad, who had fever, cough and cold, was taken to Hyderabad where it was confirmed that she had Covid-19. When this information was passed on to the school and health authorities, tests were conducted for all the 470 students, 26 staff members and 10 workers on Sunday. Out of these, 48 students and the teacher tested positive.
“None of the students or the staff member who tested positive has shown any symptoms of the virus. They have been quarantined on separate floors on the hostel premises. There are no health complications,” DMHO Dr G Gayatri Devi said.
In the gurukul school, the authorities quarantined five students in each room and the samples of the students who tested positive have been sent to Hyderabad for genome sequencing.
Following the incident, the district administration has asked the education and health officials to keep a daily check at the hostels and institutions. They have been told to get Covid-19 tests done for the students if they show any symptoms.
As many as 28 students had tested positive for Covid-19 at the social welfare residential school at Wyra in Khammam a week ago.
It may be recalled educational institutions in the state had reopened on September 1. The Telangana high court allowed the reopening of residential schools in October last week following an assurance from the education department.
