Two COVID-19 clusters have been reported in Tumakuru district of Karnataka on Tuesday, November 30 after 15 students studying at two nursing colleges tested positive. A total of eight students have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Siddaganga nursing college and seven students tested positive in Vadiraja nursing college. Most of the students are from Kerala, officials say.
All the 15 individuals have been housed at a quarantine centre and their swab samples sent to Bengaluru for further tests, District Commissioner YS Patil said. The increasing number of clusters in the state have become a cause of worry for the Health Department. However, the infection did not spread out of the campus in the residential areas.
The state government has initiated stringent measures along the border areas of Kerala and Maharashtra to contain the spread of the virus.
Health Minister K Sudhakar chaired a high-level meeting on Tuesday to chalk out the measures following the emerging situation in the backdrop of the detection of Omicron -- the new COVID-19 variant. Following the meeting, Sudhakar announced that all international passengers coming into Karnataka will have to undergo a mandatory week of home quarantine despite testing COVID-19 negative.
Meanwhile, Patil said it has been made compulsory for students above the age of 18 to take the vaccine jab. Students will have to take at least one dose to enter the class. A circular has also been issued in this regard.
There have been several clusters reported across Karnataka recently including a nursing college in Mysuru, a nursing college and a school in Bengaluru, a government run community hostel in Hassan and the SDM Medical college in Dharwad. The SDM college alone reported more than 280 cases of COVID-19.
In an effort to prevent cluster formation, the Karnataka government has advised colleges to postpone all cultural activities as the cluster at SDM Medical college was formed after a cultural fest was conducted.