COVID-19 third wave in Telangana? 43 medical students test positive amid Omicron fears

A lot of COVID-19 cases are being reported from educational institutes over the past few weeks, ever since they were properly reopened for physical classes. This has raised concern among the authorities over a potential third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the increasing Omicron fears across the country, a college from Telangana has reported a large number of COVID-19 cases all at once. As many as 43 medical students of Chalmeda Anand Rao Institute of Medical Sciences in Karimnagar, Telangana have been tested positive for COVID-19.

Due to this spike of COVID-19 cases among students in the past few days, the medical college has decided to suspend physical classes and shut down the campus for a week as a safety measure, said the District Medical Health Officer.

The college conducted its annual day function a week back and it is being assumed that it was the source of the spread of COVID-19 among the students. Soon after the event, 43 students of the medical college tested positive for the virus.

Karimnagar district medical and health officer Dr Juveria, while talking to the media, said that the government had not been informed about the conduction of a function in physical mode. A large number of students attended the annual day and many of them were not wearing a mask.

Over 200 people were tested for COVID-19 on campus, out of which 43 students were tested positive for the virus. A special camp is also being set up to test around 1000 students and staff members. 13 students tested positive on Saturday while 26 others tested positive on Sunday.

This news comes amid the spread of the Omicron variant across different states in India, urging authorities to tighten their COVID-19 norms. 13 people who had flown in from foreign countries to Hyderabad have tested positive for COVID-19 and their samples have been sent to a genome sequencing lab.