COVID-19 restrictions put in place in and around the engineering university were lifted after all of them tested negative on March 2
Twenty-five students of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) at Burla in Odisha‘s Sambalpur district were wrongly diagnosed with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on February 27, said a state government official.
Pradip Mohapatra, the additional chief secretary of Odisha, attributed the error to faulty antigen COVID-19 testing kits.
All the students tested negative when their samples were analysed using RT-PCR method, a more accurate test for COVID-19. The results of the same arrived on March 2.
“We directed the supplier to replace the defective test kits. The state government has also directed the chief district medical officer (CDMO) to submit a report soon on the reasons behind the faulty tests,” said Mohapatra.
The erroneous medical reports had upended academic activities in the university. Physical classes for first-year students were dismissed and those who had come in contact with the ‘COVID-19 positive’ students were asked to quarantine.
The district administration also declared the university hostels as containment zones and the adjacent area as buffer zone.
Only one student, who was hospitalised earlier, displayed symptoms of COVID-19, said Niranjan Mishra, the director of the Public Health department. The rest of the students were kept in a separate hostel.
All these restrictions have been lifted following the RT-PCR test reports.
The Odisha government, meanwhile, has made coronavirus test mandatory for people flying in from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh.
So far, 337,277 people have contracted the disease in Odisha and 1,915 patients have succumbed. No fatality has been reported in the state since February 15, said Naba Kishore Das the state health minister.
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