At least a dozen students have tested positive of the COVID-19 in Bamenda, the Communications unit of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Bamenda has revealed.

According to Father Humphrey Tata Mbuy of the Communications unit of the Archdiocese, the students are all receiving treatment after testing positive last week.

In a statement, Fr Humphrey Tata revealed the first student from Our Lady of Lourdes College tested positive on June 26 after consulting at the General Hospital in Mankon.

This prompted the school authorities to test all the Form 5 and Upper Sixth students preparing for the GCE exams as well as teachers other workers while the school was equally disinfected, he said.

Six more students tested positive and were immediately taken to the specialized treatment centre where they have been receiving treatment.

“The Regional Delegation of Public Health also carried out a similar exercise in Sacred Heart College and five students were tested positive and carried to the same treatment centre,” Father Tata added.

The parents of the concerned children have already been informed and have either come to talk to the college authorities or have heard from their children, the priest said calling on all parents and the education community to remain calm.

The priest used the opportunity to debunk information that over students of the schools had been quarantined in an area for some Chinese drugs to be tested on them.

“These students are not the only people in the treatment centre, there are other people including one of our priests,” he said.

According to statistics from the North West Regional Delegation of Public Health, 497 cases had been reported in 12 of the 19 health districts of the region as of June 30 with 121 recoveries and 51 deaths.