COVID cases rise in Karnataka as college party turns super-spreader

The number of students and staff infected with coronavirus at a medical college in Dharwad, Karnataka, has risen to 182 from 66 the day before, officials said. 

Officials at the SDM College of Medical Sciences in Dharwad said that the majority of those infected were immunised against coronavirus and that the outbreak was caused by a recent freshers’ party held on campus.

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Following testing of more than 300 students, the COVID test result of 66 fully vaccinated students and staff of the college came back positive on Thursday. Today, more college students are being tested. 

The infected people’s samples will be sent for genome sequencing. “The students were fully vaccinated… We will be sending a few samples for genome sequencing to check if there’s a new variant,” health commissioner D Randeep told NDTV.

The outbreak, according to the health commissioner, was caused by a freshers’ party at the college on November 17. 

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According to officials, the infected have been quarantined on campus, and the two hostels have been secured as a precautionary measure.

“Most of them have got both doses of the vaccine. All of them have been isolated in the campus itself,” Dr Yashwant, district health officer of Hubli-Dharwad, said.

Officials say the COVID positive patients have mild to no symptoms and are being treated on campus. 

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Today, the state health department will test approximately 3,000 employees and students at the college and hospital (clinical and non-clinical). At least 1,000 people have been tested so far, with results expected soon. 

In the last few weeks, the number of COVID cases has decreased in several states, including Karnataka. Today, the state reported 306 new cases, with a 0.36 percent positivity rate.

On the other hand, the active cases in India comprise 0.32% of the total infections while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.33%, the health ministry said.