In Jharkhand, 79 more girls of residential schools test Covid positive

JAMSHEDPUR: A day after 69 students tested positive for Covid-19 at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Awasiya Vidyalaya (KGBAV) in remote Chakulia, 79 more cases surfaced on Wednesday.
As of now, 148 students in four girls' residential schools in East Singhbhum district have tested positive for Covid-19. Deputy commissioner Vijaya Jadhav on Tuesday directed to carry out Covid-19 test in all KGBV schools in the district after 69 students tested positive.
Led by civil surgeon Dr Jujhar Majhi, doctors carried out testing in three other KGBV schools in Dumaria, Potka and Jamshedpur blocks of the district and detected 79 more students inflicted with the virus.
While KGBV Dumaria recorded 14 cases, KGBV Potka 10 and KGBV Jamshedpur 55 Covid-19 cases, an official statement said.
All the students were isolated as per protocol and the school premises were completely sanitised.
On the directive of Jadhav, the civil surgeon had a virtual meeting with the wardens, teaching and non-teaching staff of all KGBVs and ordered them to implement Covid-19 guidelines.
The deputy commissioner also directed health officials to conduct Covid-19 tests in railway stations, bus stands, schools and colleges to contain the spread of the virus in view of increasing coronavirus cases.
In the wake of increasing cases, the district administration has also launched thermal screening of the commuters at the Tatanagar railway station and long distance bus terminus in Bhuiyadih, Sakchi.
Majhi said that thermal screening of the commuters is being done to identify symptomatic patients.
Once identified, they will be separated from the crowd and put in isolation till he or she recovers, Majhi added.
With 50 pairs of short and long distance trains passing through Tatanagar, the railway station records 50,000 footfalls daily, on an average.
Further, 450 plus long-distance passenger buses ferry over 23,000 commuters to four neighbouring states of Bihar, Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh besides, Visakhapatnam (AP) and Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), and parts of Jharkhand daily from the Bhuiyadih terminus.
The government's Covid bulletin of Tuesday confirmed that out of the 76 active cases reported on Tuesday, 37 were from rural Chakulia, 15 from Dumaria and 10 from Potka, while the urban circle contributed 14 cases, respectively. The civil surgeon said that a sudden spike in the active Covid-19 cases is due to the ongoing testing drive underway in residential schools. Out of 71,666 total Covid-19 positive cases, 70,394 have recovered and 1,143 died, between May 12, 2020 and April 25, 2023.
(With inputs from PTI)