School staff to collect samples?
Bringing COVID-19 test reports is not a prerequisite for returning students and teachers as schools officially resume today, read a letter by the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department issued to the relevant institutions on Sunday, September 13. The letter further elaborates that the provincial government would carry out randomized tests on campuses.
However, administrations of private schools in Gujrat expressed their concern over government orders for school staff to screen students and collect samples. Representatives from 18 private educational institutions in the city were given a demonstration on how to screen individuals and were told they would be provided with testing kits, but school representatives registered their complaint that their staff was not adequately trained nor informed of the procedure, and that no kits have yet to be provided.
Students & teachers contract virus
7 of 150 samples of government school teachers sent to Allied Hospital in Faisalabad returned positive on Monday, September 15, prior to the reopening of campuses. Further, Islamabad district authorities sealed Riphah University and its hostels as so far 16 teachers and students have been diagnosed positive for COVID-19 since September 9.
Cases on the rise in twin cities
56 fresh cases were reported in Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Monday, September 14, continuing the worrying trend of rising cases in the area. 81 infections were detected across Punjab in the same time period, raising the total number of cases in the province to 97,760. None succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours in Punjab.