- 80 cases reported positive including 16 staff members
- 775 residing in campus, 409 samples tested so far
- Closure of all departments, orders IIT Management
Chennai: IIT campus, Chennai, has been declared COVID hot spot after 80 cases were reported positive for the virus including 16 staff members. Campus, which opened on December 7 for final year students after receiving an order by TN government, consists of 775 students residing at the place.
Circular was released officially by IIT Madras on Sunday which mandated shutting down of all departments and facilities with immediate effect. Now the campus is under temporary lockdown.
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“In view of the recent spike in Covid cases in hostels, it has been decided to shut down all departments, centres and the library immediately until further notice. All faculty, staff, project staff and research scholars will work from home until such time. All students, scholars and project staff staying on the campus are advised strictly to confine themselves to their hostel rooms and maintain social distance at all times for their own safety,” reads the circular.
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Krishna and Jamuna are the two hostels of the campus severely affected as per the sources. Kings Institute of Preventive Medicine located in Guindy is filled with IIT Covid positive patients and hospital staff alerted the health department about the outbreak. TN government ordered testing for all the students residing at campus without fail.
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