38 school girls test Covid positive in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri, alert issued
By Lokmat English Desk | Published: March 27, 2023 01:00 PM2023-03-27T13:00:26+5:302023-03-27T13:00:26+5:30
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Thirty-eight girl students of the Kasturba residential school in Mitauli block of Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district have tested positive for Covid-19 infection, a district health official said.
Lakhimpur Kheri Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Santosh Gupta, said that one staff member was also found Covid-positive during a contact tracing exercise on Sunday after which the entire campus has been turned into a quarantine centre by the Health department.
This is the highest number of new Covid cases reported in a district in a day this year. Gupta, who rushed a medical team to the Kasturba school, said samples of all 92 contact cases of the school had been sent for testing. The report of 38 among them was positive. Most of those tested positive were asymptomatic, he added.
"All students and staff had been advised seven-day quarantine on campus and provided medicine kits. Condition of all students, barring two who have cold, is fine," the CMO said.
Those found Covid-positive had been kept in a separate wing in the school campus, he added.A mother and child wing in Motipur has been asked to keep 20 beds ready for any medical need among the students and staff in the campus.
"I personally spoke to students and assures them of all help. We are keeping watch on the health condition," said Gupta. An ambulance had also been stationed at the Kasturba school in case of any emergency, he added.
With this, the number of active Covid cases had risen to 41 since March 23, he said. On March 23, a girl student of Kasturba residential school in Mitauli block had tested positive for Covid-19. Then, an elderly person of Behjam block and another person of Mitauli block also tested positive in the last couple of days.
Meanwhile, District Magistrate, Lakhimpur Kheri, Mahendra Bahadur Singh, said all precautionary measures, including providing medical kit, sanitisation etc, had been ensured. He said there was no need to panic and urged people to strictly observe Covid-19 protocol.
India logged over 1,800 new Covid cases for second consecutive day, taking the active caseload over 10,000-mark, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Monday. Six more Covid-related deaths have been reported with total death toll at 5,30,837.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan will today hold a meeting with states' health secretaries and senior officers to review Covid-19 preparedness as India continues to report a rise in coronavirus infections. Details of the nationwide mock-drill planned next month at health facilities in all districts will be communicated at the review meeting.
Both public and private health facilities are expected to participate in the exercise aimed at taking stock of availability of medicines, hospital beds, medical equipment and medical oxygen, according to a joint advisory issued by the Union Health Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The advisory highlighted the decline in Covid testing levels as compared to the standards prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
