India coronavirus: 57 minor girls test positive in Kanpur shelter home

One of the girls from the shelter home was taken to hospital last week after she developed a fever

Fifty-seven minor girls have tested positive for Covid-19 in a government-run shelter in the northern Indian city of Kanpur, officials say.

The majority are asymptomatic and all of those who tested positive have been moved to an isolation centre.

Five of the 57 girls were found to also be pregnant, officials told BBC Hindi.

With more than 400,000 infections, India has the fourth-highest cases in the world.

One of the girls was taken to hospital last week after she developed a fever.

After she tested positive for coronavirus, samples of the remaining girls in the home were tested. An employee of the shelter home was also found to be positive, but officials do not know the source of the infection yet.

• Are more women dying of Covid-19 in India?

• Coronavirus: 'India's healthcare system failed my family'

• What India's lockdown did to domestic abuse victims

The State Commission for Women in Uttar Pradesh, where Kanpur is located, said that many of the girls in the shelter home were sexual assault victims.

Police officer Dinesh Kumar told BBC Hindi that there was no foul play within the shelter.

The five girls who are pregnant were brought to the shelter from various districts and that they were pregnant when they were brought in, Mr Kumar said, adding that their cases were under investigation.

The shelter home has since been sealed, with all staff placed in quarantine.

"When the girls were sent to hospital, members of our staff were also sent with them. It is possible that the infection spread after coming in contact with someone," Poonam Saxena, a member of the state's women commission, told local media.

"Men are not allowed to visit the children's shelter home. I have visited the home on various occasions. Any kind of speculation is not right," she added.