Bhubaneswar, January 7: Amid the rising cases of jaundice among students at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Gurujang in Khurda district, the school administration has announced closure of the institute for seven days to control the spread of the disease.

The school authorities have asked the resident students to vacate hostels immediately. More than 50 students have been affected by jaundice at JNV.

The residential school has 560 students. Meanwhile, most of students had left the campus for their homes. A majority of these students are suffering from cold and fever.

WATCO on Monday collected water samples from 12 points on the school campus, and the lab reports are expected on Wednesday.

The State Government on Monday also deputed a medical team that collected water samples from the campus to ascertain the source and cause of the jaundice outbreak. They also collected blood samples of students, inspected the dining and kitchen areas, as well as the hostel and the administrative building and other crucial sites on the campus.

Public Health Director Dr Nilkantha Mishra today said, “Our teams are visiting schools and doing inspection. We are testing and finding out how it spread in school, and preventive measures are being taken.”

Meanwhile, teams from Delhi and Bhopal JNVs visited the institute here to take stock of the situation.

Sources said one student was diagnosed with jaundice after returning to the campus following Christmas vacation. Later, several students complained ill health and fever, and later tested positive for jaundice.