COVID surge: 60 test positive for virus at IIT Kharagpur

Forty students and researchers, who are currently residing on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur campus, are among the 60 people who have tested positive for COVID-19. 

Forty students and researchers, who are currently residing on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur campus, are among the 60 people who have tested positive for COVID-19. Most of those infected have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. They are either in home isolation or at isolation wards created in the institution’s hostels, said IIT Kharagpur Registrar Tamal Nath. 

He said the condition of the infected people is stable and they are being monitored at the institute’s hospital. “We have been urging members of IIT Kharagpur family to get themselves tested whenever they experience any Covid-related symptoms and they are complying with our advice. This is how the number of 60 infected was known. We are not outside the world. With sudden spike in Covid cases all around, we too have to face up to the (emergent) situation,” the Registrar said. 

He said they had decided to bring back students in phases to the campus after the institute’s convocation on December 18, 2021, but with a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases, they had again shifted to the online mode. 

Nath said, “Students were excited to return to the campus and we all want the campus activities to resume, but considering the increasing Covid-19 cases no idea when that can happen.” Another official of the institute said around 2,000 students came to the campus after December 27 but after Covid reappeared with a vengeance, that process has been put on hold. 

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