BMC orders mass COVID testing as 30 medical students test positive in 3 days

COVID cases among vaccinated students of civic-run GS Medical College in KEM hospital has got the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on its toes.

In three days, as many as 30 medical students tested positive for the viral disease, following which the BMC has ordered RT-PCR tests for 1,100 people, comprising fellow students and relatives of the positive students.

“They are quarantined and some of them are shifted to Seven Hills Hospital – a dedicated Covid facility at Marol. Some of them have mild symptoms and we have kept them under observation. Most of them are vaccinated. We have asked KEM hospital administration to conduct COVID tests for 1,100 people,” additional municipal commissioner Kakani was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The report further quoted a head of department from KEM hospital as saying that the “affected are in the first and second year of MBBS. We have been telling the students to be careful. But they have been working together and eating together. They also stay in the RMO quarters where all of them are studying together till the late hours. We fear that the numbers may increase”.

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In India, collectively, active COVID cases have declined to 2,82,520, which is the lowest in 194 days, while the daily rise in cases remained below 20,000 for the second consecutive day. The death toll climbed to 4,47,751 with 378 fresh fatalities, according to health ministry data updated at 8 am on Wednesday. The 378 new fatalities include 149 from Kerala, 64 from Haryana and 60 from Maharashtra. The ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“The active cases comprise 0.84 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.83 per cent, the highest since March 2020,” the ministry said.

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