Madras: Another 18 resulted positive for COVID-19 on Friday in IIT Madras taking the total infection count on campus to 30 including 12 who tested positive earlier.
According to sources, all the positive students were from the hostel. Subsequently, the IIT administration has stepped up sanitation efforts on the campus with preventive measures in place.
According to the health secretary, Radhakrishnan, the first case was detected on April 19 and two more students tested positive on April 20 following which the health department, the Chennai municipal corporation and the medical team at the IIT Madras campus took samples of those who were in close contact with these students.
“Those who have tested positive have mild symptoms. Their oxygen levels are normal, there is no need to panic. IIT Madras has the facility to isolate those infected with the virus. We have begun to do targeted testing on the campus. Till now, 365 samples have been tested, further steps will be based on that,” he said. He added that he had visited those who tested positive and they were doing fine.
The detection of infections at the IIT campus has raised alarms for the state administartion.