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Bengaluru edu institutes new hotbed of Covid

ByArun Dev, Bengaluru
Mar 23, 2021 12:25 AM IST

Educational institutions have become one of the most vulnerable spots for Covid-19in Bengaluru after several colleges reported a number of cases in the last two months, government officials said on Monday

Educational institutions have become one of the most vulnerable spots for Covid-19in Bengaluru after several colleges reported a number of cases in the last two months, government officials said on Monday.

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More than 5,800 studentsare in quarantine and active surveillance after a Covid-19 cluster was reported in Udupi district’s Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) on Sunday. While Karnataka did not announced any lockdown in the state, for the students of the MIT a lockdown is in place after 188 acres campus was declared a containment zone by the district administration.MIT is the latest in a list of colleges, schools and hostels to be hit by the pandemic.

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Sambhram College of Management Studies (with nine cases), Agragami College (five), Manjushree Nursing College (40), two government high schools (24), Arya Eediga Girls Hostel (15) and Inspire Livesuit PG (eight cases) in Bengaluruwere some of the institutions in the state where the clusters were reported.

ven as educational institutions are becoming a matter of concern for the health officials, as the number of cases is on the rise, no decision on closing the educational institutions have been taken by the government. A senior health department official said the government will take a decision on closing educational institutions after consulting the education department and other concerned officials

While institutes like MIT where a large number of cases was declared containment zones, Maharani Cluster University in Bengaluru which reported two cases, decided to send residents back home. On Saturday, after a student and a staff member tested positive for the virus, Maharani Cluster University Vice-chancellor Gomathi Devi asked students of first and third semester students residing in hostels to return home.

Withmore than 5,000 studentsin quarantine, offline classes have been suspended at MIT. Students have been asked to stay in their rooms, said Narayana Sabhahit, registrar of MIT. “We are continuing online classes wherever possible. For those tested positive, a separate section has been arranged in the hostel, where doctors will be monitoring them. For the test of then students, movement within the campus has been restricted,” he said.

However, the process has not been easy. A parent of an MIT student who had tested positive said his son was moved to a separate hotel floor only two days after his test results came. “There was no clarity on whether he would get treatment or checkups during this time. It was only after he was moved to the new ward, a doctor checked him,” the father said on the condition of anonymity.

Sabhahit said that since there was a spike in the number of cases, it took time for the institute to make the arrangements.

Meanwhile, Bangalore University has asked students who live 40 kilometres from their campus to return home if possible. However, outstation students have been allowed to stay back.

While some institutions are struggling with the implementation of the containment rules, institutes that witnessed clusters but that are no longer containment zones, are slowly trying to restart operations.

An administration officer of Agragami college, which was declared a containment zone on February 27 said on Monday the restrictions were lifted in the second week of March. “We are now preparing to conduct examinations in the college. We are taking all precautions and we have informed the authorities as well. All students who will appear for the examination will have to produce a Covid negative test,” the college officials said.

Karnataka on Monday reported 1,445 new Covid-19 and 10 deaths.

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