IIT Madras shuts after several students test positive for coronavirus

IIT Madras campus is now under temporary lockodown after 66 students and 5 staff members in the campus tested positive for coronavirus.

The state health department and the IIT management are yet to identify the source of the outbreak. 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 31 students tested positive on December 13 and were admitted to the government Covid Care Centre in Guindy. Following the outbreak, the institution has decided to close all the departments temporarily including all the centres, labs, and library. The IIT officials added that the students and staff members are being tested now. Close to 60 per cent of the process has been completed.

In a press release, the IIT management said “The Institute has been functioning on limited capacity with only 10% students in the hostels. As soon as a spurt in symptomatic cases was reported by some students residing in the hostels, the Institute has consulted the civic authorities and has arranged for all students residing in hostels to be tested for COVID. To be cautious, all students have been asked to remain in their rooms and packed food is being supplied to the students in the hostels.”

“Some Project Staff working on research projects and staying in the city have been coming to work in the labs, once this was permitted by the government. A SoP is in place to determine how many scholars and project staff can work safely in each lab based on its size, ventilation etc.”

“Research scholars who wished to return earlier (out of turn with respect to the SoP involving quarantine before release into the hostels) were permitted to do so if they were willing to stay off campus similar to project staff, till their turn came to be accepted in the hostels, and provided their lab could accommodate them,” the release read.

According to the officials, a total of 700 students are currently staying on the campus and they are accommodated across nine hostels with less than 20 per cent capacity occupied in each.

The management said they will attempt to increase their capacity to quarantine returning students since the government is releasing the hostels they took custody of to quarantine COVID patients during the last seven months. “IIT Madras has been constantly in touch with the civic authorities and has been following all protocols and safety measures,” the release added.