IIT Bombay Becomes an Emerging Covid Hotspot as 16 Test Positive in Campus

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay is emerging as a Covid-19 hotspot, as the total number of infections at the campus has shot up to 16. The Covid-19 cluster is believed to have been triggered from the two cases that were reported from hostel number 18 in October this year. Out of the 16 cases, nine are students and seven members of the teaching and non-teaching staff, reported a leading news daily.

When the fresh cases were detected on October 16, a Covid-19 test drive was initiated by the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) two days later, after which three more students tested positive. “It is very difficult to figure out the possible source of infection, but the first student had gone for a get-together outside the campus,” an official told the leading news daily.

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The total number of cases after the test drive stood at seven, out of which, five were asymptomatic. As the infections accumulated, more test drives were arranged which detected a total of 16 cases, the highest in almost two months, the report said. To curb the proliferation of cases and contain the surge, almost 225 high-risk contacts have been tested, and their reports are yet to come.

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“We have had a higher number of cases in the second wave, and on some days, the numbers were as high as 10 per day. Cases have started declining since mid-October. It is only in the last week or so that we have seen a small increase in numbers, but most of them are from one cluster,” said S Sudarshan, Deputy Director, Academic, and Infrastructural Affairs.

The BMC has devised necessary and strict guidelines for the campus and has sealed the entire floor of hostel number 18, where mostly senior students reside. IIT Bombay decided to open its hostels for second and third-year students from December to begin the semester in January 2022.

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