The Jaikatpur High School in Tripura South district’s Belonia was shut down for three days on Tuesday after a swarm of unidentified mosquito-like insects entered the premises in the last 48 hours. When contacted, headmaster of the school Sudeb Nandi said the insects started swarming into the school on Monday. "It was not possible to continue classes in this situation. So, we contacted the local Primary Health Centre (PHC) and as per their advice, we sprayed mosquito-repellent throughout the school. We thought it would be enough but the problem persisted even the next day," said Nandi. Later on Tuesday, a medical team led by chief medical officer Dr Subrata Das rushed to the spot and advised the authorities to keep the school shut for three days in order to keep the children away from the insects. "We have decided to keep the school shut for three days as per the advice of the medical team. They assured us of proper initiative to remove the insects in these three days," said Nandi. "It itches when the insect bites us. We could not concentrate on our studies during the class hours due to these unknown insects," said a student of the school. After their inspection, the medical team stated that though these insects look like mosquitoes, they are yet to identify them. "We found their nests everywhere in the school. Though we are not confirmed whether these insects are carriers of any disease, we have reported the matter to the state surveillance officer and programme officer of the state vector-borne disease control," said Das. Besides the school, the team visited a few nearby homes to inspect the source of the insect.
