With Covid-19 cases in IIT-M still on rise, Tamil Nadu to test students in college hostels

Learning lessons from the IIT-M episode, Tamil Nadu govt has stepped up efforts to test students living in college hostels to prevent another cluster

The Covid-19 cluster involving the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) grew bigger on Tuesday with 79 more students testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

Learning lessons from the IIT-M episode, the Tamil Nadu government has stepped up efforts to test students living in college hostels and mansions to prevent another cluster.

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said a total of 978 samples, including those of students, research scholars, and staff, were collected from the IIT-M campus. Of 953 samples, results of which are known, 183 have returned positive – 104 till Monday, and 79 on Tuesday.

The emergence of a cluster at the IIT-M came as the Tamil Nadu government reopened classes for final semester students at arts and science and engineering colleges on December 7. Officials have blamed the mess at IIT-M campus for Covid-19 spread, and have now asked institutions to serve meals to students at their rooms, instead of asking them to take their food at a common place.

“After the IIT-M episode came into public domain, Chief Minister (Edappadi K Palaniswami) asked us to go for saturation test. We have so far tested 978 persons from the campus. Results of 953 have come out of which 183 are positive. 25 samples are under process. This is a big lesson for all of us,” Radhakrishnan said.

He also appealed to students and people in general not to “remove your masks” while in a group thinking that Covid-19 “has gone away.” “The responsibility of preventing Covid-19 spread inside the college campuses rests on the management as well as the government and civic body cannot do everything. We want compliance of Covid-19 rules inside the campuses,” he said.

Radhakrishnan said the government has advised testing of students in hostels, people living in mansions, and those who stay at working women’s hostels. The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is also planning to conduct fever camps inside college campuses to detect Covid-19 cases.

Meanwhile, the IIT-M said the total number positive cases as on December 15 stood at 183. “With this testing has been completed. Next round of testing for everyone will be after 10 days,” an update from the institute said.