Chennai: IIT-Madras campus has been placed under temporary lockdown after 104 students and staff members of the institution tested positive for coronavirus.
The state health department and the IIT management are yet to identify the source of the outbreak. As per local reports, the students had claimed there had been overcrowding in the hostel mess and that could have led the infection to spread.
This is one of the biggest clusters that has emerged in Chennai after the state government permitted educational institutions to function from December 7. A total of 104 students and others have contracted the disease and all were doing well in a hospital.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said, allaying fears of further spread Of the 444 samples lifted till date, 104 have tested positive for COVID-19, he said, adding from December 1 to 12, samples from the institute turning positive steadily increased from a few to 33 specimens today.
“All of them are being treated at the King’s Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research as per the directive of Chief Minister K Palaniswami and they are all doing well,” he told reporters here.
A spokesperson for the institute said all departments and labs have been shut and as of now only about 700 students, mostly research scholars were accommodated in nine hostels.
“Classes are being held online,” she said. Radhakrishnan said though the results showed a 20 per cent positivity rate, there was no need for concern as measures including aggressive contact testing are in place as per the protocol.
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