Twenty students from Andhra Pradesh tested positive for Covid in Uttarakhand’s Nainital on Friday while they were on a study-cum-cycle tour with a message to save forests. These students were staying in an Ashram in Bhimtal and were tested while they were entering Nainital.
Twenty out of 24 students tested positive after government officials asked them to take in a ‘rapid antigen’ test for Covid-19.
As per Covid-19 protocol to contain the infection, anyone entering Nainital has to undergo the Covid-19 test. Doctors treating these students told News18 that all students are male aged between 8 years to 15 years and all belong to a tribal community, residents of Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. ‘Children of The Forest’ is printed on the identity cards of the students which they were sporting.
“The 24 (students) came on bicycles on Friday morning. They all were suffering from fever and we conducted a rapid antigen test. 20 among them came positive. The four children who came negative in the rapid antigen test have further gone through RT PCR test.†said Dr KS Dhami, Chief Medical Superintendent, BD Pandey Hospital, Nainital.
The doctor added the RTPCR test report of the four students will ascertain whether they are negative or not. The officials had a hard time communicating with the group as the latter were communicating in Telugu.
These tribal students have done similar cycle tours in Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh with a message to save forest and forest dwellers.
According to the state health report, 748 new patients tested positive for Covid-19 in Uttarakhand with a maximum of 335 reported from Dehradun while 229 in Haridwar. And five patients died due to infection. With the growing Covid cases, the Uttarakhand cabinet decided to close schools in the state from Class 1 to 12 till April 30. Moreover, the cabinet also decided to impose a night curfew between 10 PM to 5 AM in Dehradun.
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