LAHORE: As many as 34 students got coronavirus in various schools in Punjab during the last three days after resuming the education activities.

A spokesperson for the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department said that of them 24 children tested positive for Covid-19 in Gujranwala, seven in Nankana Sahib and others in Bhakkar and Lodhran.

Two employees of the schools were also among them, he said adding two schools in Nankana Sahib have been shut down for violation of guidelines and as a preventive measure to avoid outbreak of the disease.

He said various teams of the health department had taken samples of 14,746 students of government schools, and 1,566 of private schools across the province. Of them, the test of 13,796 samples was performed while others were under process at various labs of the province.

Consequently, the reports confirmed that 34 students were carrying coronavirus, he said. He said according to the given-guidelines, the government authorities would close down the schools in the presence of two or more patients of the virus. Health teams were reaching the family members of the virus-affected children and their other contacts to get their samples for analysis.

Meanwhile, 101 more people tested positive for the virus during the last 24 hours all over the province.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2020