Sixteen students of a school at Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus and admitted to a local COVID Care Centre, a civic official said on Saturday.

They are students of Classes 8 to 11, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) official said.

"The father of one of the students had returned from Qatar on December 9. The man, who resides with his family at Gothivali in Ghansoli, had tested negative for the COVID-19 infection. However, when his family members were tested, his son, a Class 11 student of the school, was found infected," he said.

After this, the process to test all the students in the school - Shetkari Shikshan Sanstha - began, and so far, 16 were found positive, he added.

"Till now, 811 students in the school have been tested over the last three days and this exercise will be carried out on 600 others on Saturday," the official said.

The infected students are undergoing treatment at the facility in Vashi, he said.