Odisha students tested COVID-19 positive due to faulty testing kits
Twenty-five students of a technology university in Odisha's Sambalpur District were detected COVID-19 positive as the kits used to test them were faulty, a senior state government official said on Tuesday. The students of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) at Burla were found positive for coronavirus in rapid antigen tests conducted between February 25 and February 27. Here are more details.
Test kits will be withdrawn: Additional Chief Secretary
The Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Health and Family Welfare, PK Mohapatra said, "All of the students subsequently tested negative for the infection in RT-PCR tests." "The test reports which had come out earlier were false as the antigen kits were faulty. The test kits will be withdrawn," Mohapatra said in Bhubaneswar.
Concerned firms have been served a show-cause notice
The rapid antigen test kits that were used for testing were procured from two firms based in New Delhi and Haryana. They were served a show-cause notice by the Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited for supplying defective/non-standard kits.
Students were kept in isolation in a vacant hostel
Vice-Chancellor in-charge of VSSUT, BB Pati said, "It is good news that our students have tested negative for COVID-19. However, we are yet to get any official information in this regard." These students had been kept under isolation in a hostel that was lying vacant. The varsity has also started online classes for students instead of physical classes.
Containment zone order likely to be withdrawn
The district administration had declared all 11 hostels of the institute as micro-containment zones and the adjacent area of one such hostel as a buffer zone. The university authorities had also postponed final year examinations as hostels were declared containment zones. Project Director of District Rural Development Agency, Sukanta Tripathy, said, "If the students tested COVID-19 negative, the containment zone order would be withdrawn."
