RAIPUR: There’s a spurt in Covid infections among schoolchildren in Chhattisgarh after schools reopened. At least 11 students tested positive in three government schools of Janjgir-Champa on Tuesday, leading these schools to be shut down for a week.
As many as 43 students have been infected in a week, said officials. On Tuesday, six children were detected Covid-positive in a high school in Birgahani, two in Saraswati Shishu Mandir of Baloda and three in a middle school of Uchbhatti village, said health officials.
They were screened for Covid after they reported to the school administration that they were feeling unwell. Schools have already told parents not to send their children to class if they have Covid symptoms or any other ailment.
Collector Jitendra Kumar Shukla closed all three schools for seven days and ordered that all other students, their parents and teachers who had come in contact with them be screened. Contact tracing is on. The schools are being sanitized thoroughly, he added.
The district education officer has been asked to constantly monitor schools. Instructions have been given to set up camps in rural areas for 100% vaccination.
In the past week, at least 43 students in Durg, Korba, Balrampur, Surajpur and Jashpur districts have tested positive. Three days ago, four girls and a teacher in Kanker were found infected with Covid, and two days prior to that, two students and a teacher were found positive in Jashpur. Eight students of a mohalla class (offline school for those unable to attend online) in Korba tested positive, three in a Surajpur school and one in Balrampur.
