Jharkhand: 11 girls of residential school test Covid positive

Amid the looming fear of Covid-19 fourth wave, eleven students of Kasturba Gandhi Girls Residential School in Jharkhand’s Chatra district have tested Covid positive.

Around 11 students of Kasturba Gandhi Girls Residential School in Jharkhand have tested Covid positive in a span of two days. All the infected girls are from Class 12 and Class 11. A random test for COVID-19 was conducted on April 27 by the administration of the institute. A total of 195 students, as well as staff, were tested for RT-PCR on that day.

Arundhati Dutta, in-charge of Kasturba Gandhi Residential Schools in Chatra, said, “We were provided with the test report on May 4, which showed 10 students as positive with Covid-19.” She said that the infected students were not showing any symptoms, as reported by J&K 24X7 News. 

Chatra district education superintendent Jitendra Sinha said that all precautionary measures are being taken to prevent the virus from spreading. The institute is being sanitized. Apart from the case of Chatra, daily coronavirus cases in the state have been fluctuating between six and seven since May 1, a health official said. Altogether 13 cases were registered on May 4 itself.

USAID, UNICEF promote Covid-19 vaccination in Jharkhand

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) are promoting Covid-19 vaccination and safe behaviour in Jharkhand's tribal districts.

USAID team visited the Panchayat Baragain in Bhandra block of Lohardaga district to review the community mobilisation. With its support, UNICEF implemented Risk Communication and Community Engagement. UNICEF also supported government's door to door vaccine campaigns.

Parul Sharma, Officer-in-Charge from UNICEF Jharkhand said, “Vaccine hesitancy was a widespread challenge as these districts grappled with low rates of vaccine administration fuelled by misinformation, superstitions, mistrust, and technical glitches in registration. At first, the negative rumours about the vaccine left the vaccination lines empty, but that changed swiftly with the intervention of social mobilizers and health frontline workers (Sahiyas). As they started their house-to-house campaign to explain how the vaccine works and refuted the many rumours circulating in the community, people started to line up at the vaccination centres. Moreover, involving women’s self-help groups, Panchayati Raj representatives, and religious and community leaders in the social mobilisation activities and community meetings, encouraged more community members, especially women, to get vaccinated,” as reported by The Avenue Mail.

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