IIT-Roorkee emerges as the latest hot spot after 80 students test +ve for Covid
The IIT Roorkee administration has directed students to isolate themselves in their rooms and has turned one of its hostels into a Covid care centre, the institute’s media cell in-charge Sonika Srivastava said.
In the latest case of an institute of higher education turning into a Covid-19 hotspot, the Haridwar district administration on Wednesday declared five hostels at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, as containment zones after 80 students tested positive for the viral disease.
The IIT Roorkee administration has directed students to isolate themselves in their rooms and has turned one of its hostels into a Covid care centre, the institute’s media cell in-charge Sonika Srivastava said.
While 60 tested positive till Tuesday, 20 more tested positive in the RT-PCR tests conducted by Haridwar district health department in the institute on Wednesday.
“After the 80 students tested positive in the institute, five hostels named Cautley, Kasturba, Sarojini, Govind Bhavan and Vigyan Kunj have been sealed and declared containment zones by the Haridwar district health department. The institute has about 3000 students of which about 1200 are in these five hostels,” added Srivastava.
“The institute has turned its Ganga Bhavan hostel as the Covid care centre under the supervision of district health department where the infected students are being treated. Apart from this, one guest house and another establishment have been turned into quarantine centres for the first contacts of the infected students,” she said.
Haridwar chief medical officer Dr SK Jha said on Wednesday, “We had taken RT-PCR samples of about 2000 students and staffers from the institute after detection of infections. Till Tuesday, 60 tested positive and on Wednesday 20 more came out positive. However, many of them are asymptomatic and are undergoing treatment in the Covid care centre there under our supervision,” he said, adding that the health department is monitoring the situation.”
Meanwhile, students attending online classes from homes have been asked not to return to the campus, Srivastava said.
On Wednesday, the country recorded 126,260 new cases, taking the tally to 12,926,024.
On Tuesday, as many as 40 doctors tested positive for Covid-19 at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, the university’s spokesperson Sandeep Tiwari said. Those infected have been admitted in the isolation ward of the medical college hospital, he added.
The new cases have been reported days after the Ahmedabad campus of the Indian Institute of Management and the IIT Jodhpur campus were sealed after recording several cases.
On Monday, the Jodhpur campus of IIT reported 70 cases, including 54 students, prompting district health authorities to seal the premises after declaring it a containment zone.
Of the 54 students, 51 are under treatment at a isolation facility of a hospital on the campus, said Amardeep Sharma, the joint registrar of IIT-Jodhpur.
Sharma said that the other infected people included housekeeping and security staff. “IIT-Jodhpur allowed post-graduate and PhD students to return to the campus for their thesis and project work. Some UG and first year PG students returned to the campus and they are being sent directly to the designated isolation wards. All students in isolation wards are getting tested for Covid-19 on the fifth day of their arrival. Only after obtaining a negative RT-PCR report, they are allotted rooms in regular hostels,” Sharma said.
Late last month, IIM-Ahmedabad reported 191 Covid-19 cases, of which at least 86 were students residing in the hostels on campus. A statement from the institute released on Monday said that the Covid-19 spread was under control and all protocols were being followed.
Meanwhile, the management at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, has reiterated the need for following Covid-19 norms on the campus.
The director of the institute, Prof Subhasis Chaudhuri said that at least 19 people, including staff and students, have tested positive for Covid-19 over the last two weeks and are currently undergoing treatment at the campus hospital.
While the institute has restricted residents on the campus from venturing out, it has also intensified contact tracing. “We conduct reverse as well as forward contact tracing to try to identify what restrictions to place to avoid the spread. Based on this, we decided to maintain 10 day quarantine for students returning [from home]. We have not allowed any indoor eateries [other than hostel messes],” said Prof S Sudarshan, the deputy director of academic and infrastructural affairs at IIT-B.
