IIT Madras shuts down all departments after 71 people test COVID-19 positive

Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Madras has temporarily shut down its departments, centres, labs and even the library following the detection of symptomatic COVID-19 cases in the hostels. As per reports, an email was sent to students informing about the measure after nearly 71 people including 66 students at the premium educational institute tested positive for the novel coronavirus since December 1. 

This is also the first significant cluster reported in the city after educational campuses reopened for the final year students. As per reports, while at least two individuals contracted the highly-infectious disease on December 1, nearly 14 more cases were recorded before December 10. The IIT Madras campus, which has been reportedly declared as a hotspot, has detected at least 55 more cases of COVID-19. 

As per several media reports, the IIT Madras officials have informed that there are at least 774 students on the campus and the main clusters of infections were recorded in two hostels including Krishna and Jamuna. As per reports, all students and faculties will be tested for the disease. In the meantime, Everyone is working remotely with students getting the supply of packed foods. The institute is now reportedly functional with limited capacity with only 10 per cent students in hostels. 

While the management reportedly told the hostelites on December 12 to not step out of the establishment, one faculty in the guest house along with four mess workers also tested positive for COVID-19.  

However, as per reports, the educational institute’s health department is yet to identify the cause of the rapid spread of the disease. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu has till now recorded more than 799k COVID-19 cases along with at least11,895 deaths with 777k recoveries.

Read - 'Grant Interim Admission To Student Who Clicked On Wrong Link': SC To IIT Bombay

Read - IIT-Guwahati Researchers Develop Technology To Harvest Water From Air

IIT Indore suspends PhD lab work after COVID-19 cases

Meanwhile, just last month, IIT Indore suspended lab work for students after nearly five persons were found to have contracted COVID-19 in November-end. The information was revealed by institution’s spokesperson Sunil Kumar who added that other regular courses including B.Tech and M.Tech were continued to be taken remotely through online classes. Even the orientation programme for the new batch of the B.Tech students was organised virtually. 

Read - IIT Jodhpur To Organise Convocation Using AI On Dec 6

Read - IIT KGP Devices AI-based System To Inspect Quality Of MSME Goods