COVID-19 Spike: Around 50 students from two J&K schools test positive for coronavirus

The authorities of Jammu and Kashmir shut down two schools as a contact-tracing programme was initiated after as many as 50 students from two different schools in South Kashmir tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

At least 36 students of the primary classes of Noorani Public School in the Khull area of Kulgam tested positive on Wednesday. The district health services conducted random testing at the school after six of the teachers from its senior wing were found infected with Covid-19 on Monday.

The virus spread across the school even though the senior and junior wing are located nearly 2 km away from each other. Block Medical Officer of Dham Hanjipora Shugufta Salam



told PTI that she had carried out random sampling in the senior wing that prompted her to initiate the same in the junior wing of the school.

"We found that 36 students up to class 5 were positive. Even a grandparent who had come to collect his ward from the school has tested positive for Covid-19," she said, as per PTI reports.

In another school in the adjacent Anantnag district of South Kashmir, 14 students tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

A random sampling of students was carried out at the Government High School, Kathsoo in the district, where 14 children were detected with Covid-19. The school has been ordered to remain closed for a week, officials said.