Madras: Seventy-one students from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras have tested positive for the novel coronavirus from December 1 till Sunday.
According to a statement from IIT Madras, the technical institute has been functioning on limited capacity with only 100 per cent of students in the hostels. As soon as a spurt in symptomatic cases was reported by some students residing in the hostels, the institute consulted the civic authorities and arranged for all students residing in hostels to be tested for coronavirus.
All students have been asked to remain in their hostel rooms while packed food is being supplied to them.
IIT Madras has been permitting research scholars who need to do experimental work to return to campus in a cautious manner — with a 14-day quarantine and testing of each returnee, the statement said.
“Our capacity to quarantine (with room service) is limited, and this limits the rate at which we can bring back scholars to the hostels,” the institute said.
An SoP is in place to determine how many scholars and project staff can work safely in each lab based on its size, ventilation etc. Research scholars who wished to return earlier (out of turn with respect to the SoP involving quarantine before releasing into the hostels) were permitted to do so if they were willing to stay off-campus similar to project staff, till their turn came to be accepted in the hostels, and provided their lab could accommodate them.