Students in Bihar village test positive after COVID infected tuition teacher kept visiting homes

A total of 16 people, majority of them students, tested COVID positive on a Rapid Antigen Test at a village in Bihar's Seikhpura district, an official said on December 28.

Sheikhpura District Civil Surgeon Dr Prithvi Raj said that a tuition teacher named Abhishek Kumar (45) was found to be COVID positive on December 20. However, contrary to following COVID protocols and quarantining himself, he continued visiting his students at their homes.

The incident came to light only a few days ago after several of his students fell ill in the village and visited their nearest Primary Health Centre. "We have immediately sent a medical team in the village to ascertain the situation. The team also visited Kumar's house. His mother also tested positive in a rapid antigen test. Among the 16 people, some are the students' parents. The students belong to the 9 to 16 age group," Raj said.

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Frightened for his well-being after his students fell ill, Kumar left for Bangalore. "The entire village has been declared a containment zone and the students and their parents are under home isolation," the officer said. He added, "We sent samples of infected people on Monday evening for RT-PCR and genome sequencing tests will be done to ascertain if it is the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus."