Students, parents and school authorities should undergo immediate test if they have symptoms of mild cold and cough. It could be Covid 19.
With educational institutions having been opened and students returning to hostels, there are possibilities of congregation and thereby spread of the infection.
Director Health Services Bijoy Mohapatra said on Thursday that these mild symptoms should not be overlooked as the variant of the virus could cause them to the ignorance of the infected.
“The only way to keep Covid-19 at bay is that the students, hostel wardens and parents, if they have even a mild cold and cough, should undergo test,” Mohapatra said while speaking in the backdrop of 51 doctors and students of VIMSAR, Burla testing positive for Covid-19 by Thursday.
“As of now, people are seen lowering their guards against the disease. This will land them in trouble. So we have to follow the Covid guidelines strictly to keep ourselves safe,” Mohapatra added.
Elaborating further about the present situation, Mohapatra said cases are being reported from certain pockets. The government, health department and the district administrations are always on the alert. And surveillance teams are also keeping a tab on the developments. “It will take five to six days to understand the trend,” he said.
He said after many students tested positive for Covid-19, the VIMSAR authorities and the district administration have already taken measures to stop the virus from spreading further. The hostels have already been declared containment zones.
Mohapatra said the severity in the infected students is not very intense and the entire situation is being monitored regularly. “The situation will be under control within four to five days. So there is no need to panic,” he said.
Notably, a total of 51 MBBS students of VIMSAR have tested positive for the infection so far. As many as 22 students were first detected to have contracted the virus on Monday. On Tuesday, few more had tested positive, prompting the Sambalpur district administration and the institute authorities to declare the hostels as containment zones.