In a distressing trend, another cluster of COVID-positive students has been found in Karnataka at two private nursing colleges in Mysuru. This comes at the end of a week that saw a spike reported every day in a medical college in Dharwad, and the number stands dangerously close to 200 at present. At the college in Mysuru, about 50 students have tested positive for COVID-19, and almost all of them happen to be fully vaccinated, reported district administration officials. On Friday, 25 students tested positive, and all of them have been quarantined.
Speaking with The New Indian Express, Deputy Commissioner Dr Bagadi Gautham said that 48 students had reported positive over a week's time. “As it was a cluster case, necessary measures were taken and there is no issue now. They will be retested again,” he said.
Sources in the district hospital where the students were admitted said that almost all the students were completely vaccinated and most of them were asymptomatic. Nevertheless, the incident has set off a tremor of panic among the people of Mysuru, whose experience with COVID-19 in the devastating second wave this year was bitter, with an acute shortage of beds and medical infrastructure contributing to a high fatality rate.
Over 110 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the district this week, and with the students from the two private nursing colleges making up the most of that number. As of Friday, the district has reported over 1,79,675 COVID cases of which 1,77,016 have recovered while 2,429 have succumbed to the virus. The number of people undergoing treatment for an active COVID-19 infection stands at 230.
