An Atlanta-based college has mandated everyone on its campus to wear face masks and maintain social distancing as reports of fresh Covid-19 cases make the round.

The college, which resumed classes a week ago, has announced that all students and employees are required to wear a mask.

The school officials said there have been no confirmed cases of Covid-19 among its students but they had received reports of cases from other schools in the country.

Asides the mandatory face masks rule, the college is also prohibiting large gatherings of students or any sort of parties on campus.

The precautionary measures taken by the school also include temperature checks upon campus arrival, social distancing and contact tracing

Reports of a new variant of Covid-19 have been confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.

The new variant of Covid-19 is tagged BA.2.86. There have been six cases of the new lineage detected in four countries since late July,

Scientists say that the new variant BA.2.86 is different from the variety targeted by current vaccinations but there is no proof yet that the new variant is more deadly than the previous ones.