Nineteen students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Ahmednagar district of Northern Maharashtra have tested positive for COVID-19, although none of them show any symptoms.
The samples have been sent for genome sequencing to determine whether the students have contracted the Omicron variant.
As of now, Maharashtra has detected 108 cases of Omicron, which has been designated as "a variant of concern" by the World Health Organization.
The authorities of Ahmednagar district have begun testing all the students, teachers and staff of the school.
Nashik Divisional Commissioner Radhakrishna Game said that the students are not showing any symptoms.
Talking to The Indian Express, he said that all the 19 students are at a local hospital at Parner, while the rest of the students are quarantined. All the teachers and staff have also been tested, he said.
Additionally, the district collector of the district, Rajendra Bhosale, also reassured that the cases are not severe.
He said that "all [students] are isolated and hospitalised. Most of them have no symptoms and some have only mild illness," PTI quoted him saying.
"We are conducting RT-PCR testing of remaining students as well as teachers, non-teaching staff and visitors," he further added.
Due to high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, the Maharashtra government on Friday, 24 December, imposed new rules on social interactions.
The Uddhav Thackeray government has now prohibited public gatherings of more than five people in a group from 9 am to 6 pm.
Maharashtra reported 1,410 fresh COVID cases in the past 24 hours, while 12 people died.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times, PTI, and The Indian Express)
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