15 students of Thapar University test COVID-19 positive

The COVID-19 RT-PCR tests were conducted after a few students had written to the health department about the COVID-19 symptoms.

Thapar University, Patiala has turned out to be the new COVID-19 hotspot in Punjab as 15 students have tested positive for the virus. The varsity reported 15 fresh cases on Thursday.  Following the report, the district health authorities declared one of the hostels, where first-year students are staying, as a containment zone.

While speaking about the same, District epidemiologist Dr Sumeet Singh said most of the students found positive are symptomatic. “Samples will be sent for genome testing,” he said.

The COVID-19 RT-PCR tests were conducted after few students had written to the health department about the COVID-19 symptoms. “We approached the university authorities asking them to allow testing but they first told that the students wanted to avoid sitting in the upcoming examination,” Dr Sumeet said.

University registrar Gurbinder Singh said they only briefed the health authorities about the students using Covid-19 as an excuse to skip exams. “We were not at all reluctant and provided all logistics to arrange a medical camp on the hostel premises,” he said.

Meanwhile, two days after Punjab reported its first case of Omicron variant in Mukandpur town of SBS Nagar district, deputy commissioner Vishesh Sarangal directed the health authorities to ramp up testing and vaccination in the district. He asked officials to constitute more teams for collecting samples for which services of private nursing college staff can be taken. The DC also asked officials to ensure tracing of all contacts of the infected person so that they can quarantined. Sarangal appealed to the people to inform the district administration in case any person had recently arrived from countries at risk, including the UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Bangladesh, Israel and others.

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