Roorkee: IIT Roorkee in Uttarakhand reported 20 students infected with coronavirus on Wednesday. With this the number of cases in the premises has gone up to 65. The state health department has raised concerns over the rising graph.
Fifty-four students were detected positive on Monday followed by six more on Tuesday evening. The institute has asked students not to return from home to hostels till further orders.
IIT Roorkee media cell in-charge Sonika Srivastava told Lalluram.com that Sarojini Bhawan and Govind Bhawan hostels were sealed on Tuesday. Earlier Kotle Bhawan, Kasturba Bhawan and Vigyan Kunj were sealed. All precautionary measures are being taken in view of the infection. The situation is currently under control.
“After the 60 students were tested positive in the institute, five hostels named Korle, Kasturba, Sarojini, Govind Bhavan and Vigyan Kunj have been sealed and declared containment zones by the Haridwar district health department. The institute at present has about 3,000 students, of which, about 1,200 are in these five hostels,” said IIT Roorkee media cell in-charge Sonika Srivastava.
She said all the students of the above-mentioned hostels have been asked to remain inside their rooms, where they were being provided with food and other requirements.
“The institute has turned its Ganga Bhavan hostel as the Covid care centre for treating infected students under the supervision of district health department. Apart from this, one guest house and another in-house establishment have been turned into quarantine centres for the first contacts of the infected students,” she said, and added that a committee has been formed to handle and manage the Covid-19 situation.
Four students were admitted to Haridwar Mela Hospital due to ill health. The students were brought back to the institute after their condition stabilized and are undergoing treatment at the Covid Care Centre. Management has isolated students on campus.
Haridwar Chief Medical Officer Dr SS Jha said that 20 new cases were registered on Wednesday while 45 infected students had already been identified.