Karnataka: SSLC student in Udupi tests Covid-19 positive, primary contacts in Hassan negative

UDUPI: Even as news of a student who had appeared for SSLC examinations in Padubidri testing positive for Covid-19 caused concern among officials of department of public instruction (DPI), they had cause for cheer too. This came from the fact that 18 students and a supervisor who shared an exam room with a Covid-19 positive student who appeared for mathematics exam at Mallipatna PU College exam centre in Hassan on Saturday tested negative.
Confirming the positive case of the Udupi student, S Suresh Kumar, minister for primary and secondary education told TOI that the swab test of the student had been taken since her father had tested positive.“With the report now positive, the exam hall where the student appeared has been sanitized and will not be used for science examination on Monday. The other students will be accommodated in a reserve room and given N95 masks,” the minister said.
A call on replacing the supervising staff and testing the students who were in the same room will be taken shortly. In a similar instance, the department decided to replace the examination centre staff at Arsikere in Pavagada taluk in Tumakuru district after an examination observer was found positive. The official had interacted with the examination centre head in the principal’s office and had not visited any of the examination halls, the minister said.
Allaying fears of parents and students at Mallipatna centre, he said rooms in which the student appeared have been shut and fully sanitized. The student was shifted to a reserve room midway as the centre officials received his report as the exam was ending. The student had recovered from dengue and his temperature was normal when he appeared for the exam. Barring a light temperature now, the student has no other symptoms and is doing well, he said.
The Department of Health and family welfare thus far has identified 25 students with Covid-19 and they have been exempted from the SSLC examinations. Since no instances of asymptomatic students having spread the disease coming to the fore in the random tests department carried out, a clarification was sought if other students in the same room as these Covid-19 positive students may be permitted to write the other examinations, the minister said.
The health department has clarified that since the SOPs are strictly followed in the examination center, other students in the hall cannot be considered as contacts. Accordingly, the room shall be closed and disinfected. other students in that room may be allowed to write the examination for the remaining period in another room or permitted to take the supplementary examination, the minister said, again reassuring the students about their well-being.
There is a precedence of a PUC student (close contact, exposed to Covid case at home through her father) was permitted to write the examination in a health centre and she remained healthy even thereafter, the health department said. Accordingly, a safe, secure environment will be provided for students to appear for the ongoing examinations and desks will be set 6 feet apart Students should just focus on their examinations and nothing else, he said.