60 Students of Bengaluru School Test COVID Positive, 480 Tested for Virus

Health complaints were received from Class 11 and 12 students of Shri Chaitanya School, Electronic City.

60 students of Sri Chaitanya school, Bengaluru test positive for COVID-19. 

(Photo: Representational Purposes)

Sixty students from Shri Chaitanya School located in Electronic City, Bengaluru, tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday morning, 28 September, the school principal informed The Quint.

Tanniru Kavitha, Principal at Shri Chaitanya School, Electronic City, stated that the complaints were received from the hostel for Class 11 and 12 students. “We reopened on 1 September and many students came from different states. We were notified on 26 September about a student suffering from cold and fever and we believed that it might have been due to a change in the weather and water intake,” Kavitha told The Quint.

However, when the condition persisted, immediate action was taken by the school and local authorities and the school along with its hostels have now been closed down.

According to a tweet by ANI, Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner, J Manjunath, said that his office had received a complaint about a student suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea at the school, a few days ago. “We immediately sprung into action. There were 480 students, all of whom were checked. Sixty students have tested positive," he said.

All 480 students at the hostel were tested, out of which 60 turned out to be COVID-19 positive with only two symptomatic. One of the symptomatic students is undergoing treatment at Lady Curzon and Bowring Hospital, while the other has been quarantined at his personal residence. Amongst the students who tested positive, 14 are from Tamil Nadu and the rest are from various parts of Karnataka.

As per a report in the Hindustan Times, out of the 105 students who underwent the Rapid Antigen Test, 27 were found to be infected. The remaining inmates were RT-PCR tested and 33 tested positive from that group.

"Our team is there, we have tested everyone. We'll conduct a retest on the 7th day. The school has been closed till October 20. There is no cause for worry, this is a proactive measure," Manjunath said.

The state government had allowed the resumption of physical classes for Class 9 to 12 in various schools and pre-university colleges from 23 August, 2021. “Classes have been shifted to the online mode now. We received the COVID-19 test results for our student last morning on 28 September and have disbursed everyone from the school campus and hostels back to their homes, the same evening,” Kavitha added.