<p>A new Covid-19 cluster was reported among recently arrived Kerala students at a nursing school in Bengaluru, raising the spectre of additional clusters.</p>.<p>The cases were found at a nursing college in RT Nagar, after a routine Covid-19 testing found two students to be positive. Additional testing uncovered 38 more cases. Epidemiologist Dr Giridhar Babu said it suggested that a potential "superspreader" event had happened.</p>.<p>Sources said 25 of the students are from Kerala, 14 from West Bengal and one from Bihar.</p>.<p>Earlier on Wednesday, 53 students of a private nursing college in Mysuru had tested positive for Covid-19. Most of them had returned from Kerala. A nursing college and its hostel in Mangaluru's Ullal were also sealed this month after 40 students, all from Kerala, tested positive for Covid-19.</p>.<p>Talking about the Bengaluru cluster, Rajendra Cholan, Special Commissioner (Health), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said, “The first two cases were found on February 7, two days after a batch of 80 students was mandatorily tested for Covid-19 before undertaking scholastic exams. The remaining 38 cases were found on Friday."</p>.<p>BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad said the first two cases were students from Kerala. He added that the college had commenced on January 25 with a total of 210 students, most of them from Kerala. “The remaining 170 students who have not yet tested positive are also under home quarantine regulations at their hostel for a period of 14 days,” he said.</p>.<p>Samples from the 40 positive cases have been sent to Nimhans for genomic sequencing.</p>.<p>Nicole Sharon, principal of the nursing school, said the positive cases have come as a surprise as all of the students had produced Covid-19 RT-PCR negative certificates before rejoining the college in January. “A Covid-19 certificate is valid for only three days, and because the students moved around after coming to the city, it is possible that they contracted the disease here,” Sharon said.</p>.<p>According to the BBMP, 28 students are asymptomatic while 12 have mild symptoms.</p>.<p>Sources said that 10 of the positive students had also participated in the Pulse Polio vaccination drive between January 31 and February 3. </p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Centralised isolation</strong></p>.<p>According to sources, most of the students are first-year students, although a few are members of older batches domiciled at the nursing school’s hostel. “We have rented a paying guest accommodation and are isolating them all in this one location,” the college said.</p>.<p>The BBMP said it will conduct mass testing camps at all nursing and medical colleges across Bengaluru between February 14 and February 20.</p>
<p>A new Covid-19 cluster was reported among recently arrived Kerala students at a nursing school in Bengaluru, raising the spectre of additional clusters.</p>.<p>The cases were found at a nursing college in RT Nagar, after a routine Covid-19 testing found two students to be positive. Additional testing uncovered 38 more cases. Epidemiologist Dr Giridhar Babu said it suggested that a potential "superspreader" event had happened.</p>.<p>Sources said 25 of the students are from Kerala, 14 from West Bengal and one from Bihar.</p>.<p>Earlier on Wednesday, 53 students of a private nursing college in Mysuru had tested positive for Covid-19. Most of them had returned from Kerala. A nursing college and its hostel in Mangaluru's Ullal were also sealed this month after 40 students, all from Kerala, tested positive for Covid-19.</p>.<p>Talking about the Bengaluru cluster, Rajendra Cholan, Special Commissioner (Health), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), said, “The first two cases were found on February 7, two days after a batch of 80 students was mandatorily tested for Covid-19 before undertaking scholastic exams. The remaining 38 cases were found on Friday."</p>.<p>BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad said the first two cases were students from Kerala. He added that the college had commenced on January 25 with a total of 210 students, most of them from Kerala. “The remaining 170 students who have not yet tested positive are also under home quarantine regulations at their hostel for a period of 14 days,” he said.</p>.<p>Samples from the 40 positive cases have been sent to Nimhans for genomic sequencing.</p>.<p>Nicole Sharon, principal of the nursing school, said the positive cases have come as a surprise as all of the students had produced Covid-19 RT-PCR negative certificates before rejoining the college in January. “A Covid-19 certificate is valid for only three days, and because the students moved around after coming to the city, it is possible that they contracted the disease here,” Sharon said.</p>.<p>According to the BBMP, 28 students are asymptomatic while 12 have mild symptoms.</p>.<p>Sources said that 10 of the positive students had also participated in the Pulse Polio vaccination drive between January 31 and February 3. </p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Centralised isolation</strong></p>.<p>According to sources, most of the students are first-year students, although a few are members of older batches domiciled at the nursing school’s hostel. “We have rented a paying guest accommodation and are isolating them all in this one location,” the college said.</p>.<p>The BBMP said it will conduct mass testing camps at all nursing and medical colleges across Bengaluru between February 14 and February 20.</p>