As many as 50 students and three staff members have tested positive in the last one week in Shivamogga. Of these, 42 of them are from the same cluster and the rest are individual cases from the other taluks.

According to the District Health Officer (DHO), Dr Rajesh Suragihalli, 42 students are from a private nursing college. The other eight cases are from taluks including Sagar, Thirthahalli and others. The private nursing college is sealed currently. 

"The cases were reported on November 30, December 1 and 2. Out of 42 cases, 10 cases had travel histories to Kerala. The students have come with a negative report, but unfortunately when tested here, they turned out to be positive. All are asymptomatic. Over 950 samples were collected and sent for testing. Among them, 42 turned positive. All 42 samples were sent for genome sequencing to NIMHANS in Bengaluru and the report is awaited,"said DHO Dr Rajesh Suragihalli. 

The students who tested positive are being treated at their hospital. Five teams of doctors and paramedical staff have been deployed, the DHO said. He added that the rest of the eight cases were found when the department conducted random testing at schools and colleges.