Karnataka Medical College Reports 30 Covid Cases, Samples Sent For Omicron Test

A medical college in Karnataka's Kollar has become a Covid cluster after 30 students tested positive in the last four days. The district administration has tested 1,160 students and staff members of the Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College in Kolar for Covid. All infected students have been admitted to a hospital and are stable. 

None of those who tested positive in the cluster have a travel history. Samples of all positive patients have been sent for genome sequencing. 

The test positivity rate in Karnataka is 0.35%, with the state having reported 31 cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus. 15 of the Omicron cases have been discharged so far.

There are a total of 7,251 active cases of Covid in Karnataka.

15,588 passengers have arrived in the state from countries that were designated "at-risk" after the outbreak of Omicron.

Keeping in view rising cases of Covid and the threat of Omicron, the Karnataka government on Tuesday had said that no parties or mass gatherings would be permitted in the state from December 30 to January 2.

In a recent meeting headed by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on the public preparedness of states for fighting Covid-19 and the Omicron variant along with the progress of vaccination, Karnataka was asked to focus on Covid clusters in view of rising Omicron cases. 

"As regards Karnataka, we were told to pay attention to the increase in the number of clusters. We have been told to implement stringent measures in these areas and also to look at containment measures in the clusters," Arundathi Chandrashekar, Managing Director, National Health Mission, had said.