Amid fears of Omicon cases, Telangana, Karnataka colleges report massive outbreak

At least 43 students of the Chalmeda Anand Rao Institute of Medical Sciences in Telangana's Karimnagar district tested positive over the weekend.

The outbreak has forced authorities to shut down the campus.

Authorities believe a college event held last week, where several reportedly were present without masks, could have been the source of the outbreak.

"So far 200 have been tested. On Monday, there will be a camp to test all 1,000 on the campus,'' Dr Juveira, the district's Medical and Health Officer, was reported as saying by NDTV.

Telangana Public Health Director Dr G Srinivas says he expects more cases by mid-January with numbers peaking by February.

The vaccination status of those who have tested positive is not yet clear.

In Karnataka, 59 students and 10 staff at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Chikkamagaluru district have tested positive, said reports.

Two weeks ago, 306 people tested positive at a college in Dharwad district, of which most were fully vaccinated.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai recently said new the cases in the state were from mostly two clusters - schools and colleges, and residential apartments.

The state is also the first to report the Omicron variant and right now the total number of the strain is six.

India overall has detected over 20 cases of Omicron so far and recorded 8,306 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, as per the Ministry of Health released data on Monday.