At least 68 students have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours in Karnataka's Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru districts, reported news agency IANS.
Amid fears of the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron, the state government has been conducting random COVID-19 tests in nursing and medical colleges across the state. In the first cluster, 29 students of a private nursing school in Shivamogga tested positive. Speaking to IANS, Deputy Commissioner K Shivakumar confirmed that all the cases are asymptomatic.
In another cluster, 40 students tested positive in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya residential hostel in Seegodu village in Chikkamagaluru district. According to IANS, initially only three students and four staff tested positive. The report states that all the students are asymptomatic and the hostel has been sealed in a bid to curb the transmission of the virus.
23 Students Test Positive in Tumakuru, 9 in Kodagu Districts
Earlier on Saturday, 23 students of the Nanjappa Institute of Nursing Sciences had tested positive for COVID-19.
According to The News Minute, the students had recently returned from Kerala, where they were posted as interns.
Meanwhile, nine students of Kodak school also tested positive in Mandikeri village of Kodak district.
'Areas With Three or More Cases To Be Declared a Cluster': Karnataka CM
Amid the rise in cases across the state, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday announced that any area with three or more cases of COVID-19 will be declared a cluster.
(With inputs from IANS, The News Minute, NDTV, Hindustan Times.)
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