Two more Class 10 students in Tiruvannamalai tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday taking the total number of cases among staff and students in the district to seven, including four teachers, a week after schools and colleges were re-opened on September 1.
Wednesday's results related to two 15-year-old Class 10 students of the Government High School in Kallikulam, in Kilpennathur block, around 15 km from Tiruvannamalai. Both belong to the same class in the school.
Six persons — three teachers and three students — have tested positive in the district since Monday. However, the first case among educational institutions staff and students in the district since the re-opening of schools and colleges was reported last Friday when a 38-year-old teacher from the same school in Kadaladi village tested positive for Covid-19. Subsequently, five members in his family including two children tested positive on Sunday.
“A major reason for the spread of the infection among students and staff is due to the spread in the family. More samples are being collected every day in the district,” R Selvakumar, Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Tiruvannamalai, told The Hindu.
In a circular to schools, colleges and the district authorities a week ago, the Collector, B. Murugesh, directed them to conduct swab tests of students, teachers and staff of educational institutions in the district on a rotational basis every day. Further, the district education officer was also asked to submit a status report of such swab tests taken in schools and colleges to the district administration every fortnight. Accordingly, on an average, 3,800 swab tests among students and teachers have been done in the temple town since the opening of the educational institutions since September 1.
No positive cases among students, teachers and staff in educational institutions in Vellore and the newly carved districts of Ranipet and Tirupattur have been reported so far.
In Vellore, the district administration and the Corporation organised a special vaccination camp for traders at the British era Netaji market near Old Bus Terminus on Wednesday with more than 500 wholesale traders taking the jab.
Currently, the Corporation has vaccinated 25,000 traders and shopkeepers within its limits since April. Of 3.5-lakh eligible beneficiaries for vaccination above 18 years of age within the Corporation limits, around one lakh, mainly homemakers and senior citizens, have to be vaccinated.
Every day, on an average, 60 vaccination camps were being held with 3,000 persons covered within its limits.
“So far, no positive cases among students and teachers have been reported in the district. On an average, 8,000 persons are vaccinated in 175 camps everyday in the district. We are also taking swab tests for 2,200 persons daily,” said Tirupattur DDHS Dr. Senthil Kumar.
