Chennai: Another 99 students, who attended a college party in Bengaluru, tested positive for the novel Coronavirus, taking the tally to 281 on Saturday.


Initially, 48 nursing students from SDM Medical College in Dharwad in Mysuru district and International Boarding School in Bengaluru of Karnataka had tested Covid positive.  


The nursing students belonged to two different colleges and contracted the infection in a span of a week, according to a report on IANS. On Saturday, the remaining students were tested for Covid-19 and the total number of positive cases in the colleges increased to 281. 


According to a report in Hindustan Times, the event has turned into the first major superspreader after the second Covid-19 wave. 


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Talking to IANS, Mysuru District Commissioner Bagadi Gautham said that the infection is a cluster and all the steps are being taken to control the spread of the virus, and that the students will be tested again. 


Meanwhile, two South African nationals, who arrived in Bengaluru, tested positive for novel coronavirus amid fear over the spread of omicron variant. Following this, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a meeting with officials and as a precautionary measure made Covid-19 test mandatory for passengers from Maharashtra and Kerala.  


The Chief Minister, after the high-level meeting, also urged the Centre to permit the state to administer booster doses for the public and frontline warriors. Bommai also stressed on vaccinating the people who have not taken a second dose in Karnataka.