3 students, 3 teachers test positive for Covid

Coimbatore: Three students and three teachers have tested positive for Covid-19 so far since the reopening of schools on September 1 in the state. However, none of their primary contacts have tested positive so far.
The Covid-19 test result of a class 10 student from Namakkal, who attended the classes on the first day on Wednesday, turned positive on Thursday.She was one of the few students whose swab sample was collected as part of surveillance sample by health staff on the reopening day in the school.
“All the 300-odd students and teachers underwent test to check for the virus spread. While none of them were found to have contracted the virus, alternative arrangement was made for the students to continue classes from Friday,” Namakkal district chief education officer A Balumuthu said.
Namakkal district deputy director of health services J Prabhakaran said that the girl is asymptomatic and kept under home isolation. “Initially, we took swab samples of four of her family members and 34 of her classmates but they tested negative,” he said.
In Ariyalur district, two girl students aged 17 and 15 tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.
Education department sources identified one of the two students who tested positive as a Class XII student, at Annai Lourd higher secondary school at Varadarajanpettai near Andimadam, a hosteller. As she developed mild upper respiratory infection (URI) symptoms, she gave her swab for RT-PCR test at Jayankondam GH on September 1.
As the result came positive, she was moved to the Jayankondam GH for further care. However, she had attended classes on September 2.
In the other case, a Class IX student, a day scholar, at Nirmala girls higher secondary school had high body temperature when she was screened with a thermal scanner at the school campus on September 1. She subsequently underwent RT-PCR test even as no other symptoms were displayed. The girl did not attend the classes on September 2.
The Class IX student was admitted to the Ariyalur government medical college hospital. The district health department has collected over 60 samples from the primary and secondary contacts of the two girls including family members, classmates and teachers.
“We will closely monitor all the teachers and students in the schools. Special focus will be on comorbid people. Teachers were told to monitor the symptoms displayed by their students for quick intervention,” Dr R Geetharani, deputy director, health services, Ariyalur said. Hostels and school managements were told to ensure the screening process further, she said.
In Cuddalore district, two teachers handling higher secondary classes at Jawahar matriculation higher secondary school in Neyveli tested positive for Covid-19 infection. The teachers along with others gave swab samples before the schools reopened on September 1. Their test results, which were announced on Friday, returned positive following which the school management requested the students who were in contact with the teachers to isolate themselves.
Similarly, a trained graduate teacher posted at Venugopalapuram government girls higher secondary school in Cuddalore district tested positive for Covid-19 infection on Thursday. Health officials said the teacher, who started attending school from September 1, was resting in the staff room on Thursday. She complained of nausea and vomiting. She was isolated immediately. She and her daughter had given swab samples a day before the school reopened. The test results, which were announced on Friday, returned positive.
Health officials maintained that the teacher handles Class VI to VIII and did not interact with any students since the school reopened.
(With inputs from Bosco in Cuddalore and Deepak in Trichy)