DPS Budgam closed after 2 staffers test positive for COVID-19

SRINAGAR: Delhi Public School in central Kashmir district of Budgam has been closed for five days after two of its staffers tested positive for COVID-19, official sources said.

They said two staffers, including a teacher and an official in administration, of DPS Budgam tested positive for COVID-19. “Following this, authorities have ordered the closure of school for five days,” they said.

Over half a dozen schools were closed for similar reasons in Kashmir valley since the High and HSS reopened after more than a year due to COVID-19 restrictions. As many as 37 minor students tested positive for COVID-19 in a local school in south Kashmir district of Kulgam. Two more schools, one in Budgam and another in Bandipora, were closed on Wednesday after some teachers and students tested positive for the virus.

An elderly tourist from Maharashtra died of COVID-19 in a hospital in the summer capital, Srinagar. Amid a spike in COVID cases, Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday classified Srinagar as an orange zone while all other districts have been declared as green zones, whereas Lakhanpur was declared as a containment zone and Jawahar Tunnel area on either side as Red zones. As many as 461 new positive cases of novel Coronavirus, including 361 from Kashmir division and 100 from Jammu division, were reported on Thursday.