Screening of school students in the district for COVID-19 has led to the identification of another possible “cluster” in Kumbakonam.
According to official sources, the School Education Department, on instructions from the Health Department and the district administration, had started enquiring about the health of the students attending the classes following the identification of a COVID-19 cluster at the government aided higher secondary school, Ammapettai recently.
Tests were conducted on 100 persons at a government aided girls higher secondary school, Kumbakonam following a report that one of the students attending the classes had tested positive recently. Test results revealed that six students and a teacher were positive. A holiday has been declared for the school for a week. Arrangements have been made to test about 1,000 other students, teaching and non-teaching staff of the school.
The first-level contacts of the students and teachers would also be traced and subjected to testing and thereafter, the second-level contacts would also be screened for the infection, sources said.
A few days ago, more than 50 students of the Ammapettai school, around a dozen parents and a teacher had tested positive for the infection during a massive screening exercise that was taken up in and around Ammapettai area. Subsequently, a lab assistant of the Government Higher Secondary School at Aalathur in Pattukottai taluk tested positive for the infection on March 16.
