JNV Khurda jaundice outbreak: Water tanks cleaned, plan to reopen school on Wednesday

Bhubaneswar: All 41 water tanks on the premises of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Khurda district’s Gurujang, which reported a jaundice outbreak last week, were cleaned by the Water Corporation of Odisha (Watco) on Monday.Authorities concerned plan to reopen the school on Wednesday after it remained closed for one week for sanitisation of the campus. Earlier, principal Kavita Kar said all water sources in the school and hostel areas will be tested again to ascertain any contamination. All the rooms in both boys’ and girls’ hostels, classrooms, mess and kitchen areas are being cleaned in a phased manner.Since Jan 1, around 68 people, including students and staff of the residential school, tested positive for jaundice. All of them were sent to their homes, where they availed medical treatment. Twelve students have already recovered.Watco earlier found faecal contamination in the overhead tank and kitchen tap. Kar said since construction and road work is being undertaken on the campus using heavy machinery, there are chances that it damaged the water pipelines, leading to the mixing of tap water with drain water, resulting in contamination. “We urged the district collector to direct the municipal authorities to sanitise the entire campus before reopening of the school,” she said. “Besides, suggestions were sought from parents on measures to ensure health safety of students,” she added.Director of public health Dr Nilakantha Mishra informed that no new cases were detected in the school. “Blood tests of all those who have recovered will be conducted before they are allowed on the campus,” he added.