As many as 38 girl students at Kasturba Residential School in Mitauli block of Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. A staff member was also found to be Covid-positive during the contact-tracing efforts. The entire campus has now been turned into a quarantine zone by the UP Health Department, reported news agency PTI. This is the highest number of fresh Covid cases reported in a district in a single day this year.
According to The Times Of India, UP has seen a massive 354% jump in cases over the last 10 days — from 74 to 262. With the latest round of fresh cases, the number of UP districts with infections has gone up to 42. According to a top health official, 95% of the eligible population in UP is vaccinated against Covid.
Speaking about the Kasturba Residential School infections, Lakhimpur Kheri Chief Medical Officer Santosh Gupta dispatched a medical team to the institution to collect samples from all 92 contact cases on the premises. The report indicated that 38 of them were positive for Covid. However, most of them were asymptomatic. Gupta stated that all the students and staff had been advised to quarantine on campus for seven days and were given medication kits. Two students have symptoms of cold, but everyone else is doing well.
Those who were found to be Covid-positive have been isolated in a separate wing of the school campus. A mother-and-child wing in Motipur has been instructed to prepare 20 beds for any medical requirement among the students and staff on the campus. Gupta promised the students that he would keep a close eye on their health. An ambulance has been stationed at the school to respond in case of an emergency.
As of March 23, there are 41 active Covid cases in the area. On March 23, a girl student at the same residential school in Mitauli block had tested positive for Covid-19. An elderly person in Behjam block and another person in Mitauli block also tested positive.
Lakhimpur Kheri District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh said that all necessary measures, such as providing medical kits and sanitisation, had been implemented. He urged people to follow Covid-19 protocols and stated that there was no need to panic.
As per the latest available data, the number of active Covid cases in the country stood at 10,300 till 8 am on Monday. UP registered a jump of 62 cases over the previous 24 hours, taking the total number of patients to 246. The state also registered one fatality during the same period.
(With inputs from TOI.)