As many as 38 students of the Kasturba residential school in Mitauli block of Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district have tested positive for COVID-19 infection, said a district health official. Additionally, a staff member also tested positive, as stated in a report by IANS. 

Giving more details, 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, March 26. Following this, the entire campus has been turned into a quarantine centre by the Health department. Point to note is that 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 from the school had been sent for testing. The report of 38 among them was positive. Most of those who 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," said the CMO. 

Separate wings and other preparations 

Further, those found COVID-positive had been kept in a separate wing on 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 on the campus. "I personally spoke to students and assured 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.

Disclosing the total number of cases, he said, "With this, the number of active COVID cases had risen to 41 since March 23." So far, on March 23, a girl student of Kasturba residential school in Mitauli block tested positive for COVID-19. Then, an elderly person from the Behjam block and another person from the 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 kits, sanitisation etc, had been ensured. He said there was no need to panic and urged people to strictly observe COVID-19 protocol, as stated in a report by IANS.