IIT Madras Temporarily Shuts After 71 Students Test COVID Positive

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras) has closed all its departments, labs, centres and the library after a single-day highest spike of COVID positive cases on Sunday. A total of 71 people tested positive for Coronavirus in the last two weeks with 32 fresh cases on Sunday. IIT Madras is placed under temporary lockdown because the number of cases is likely to increase in the next couple of days. Institute has issued a media statement regarding the situation of COVID on the campus.

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IIT Madras has been functioning with only 10% of students in the hostels. Institute consulted the civic authorities and has arranged the facilities for all students residing in hostels to be tested for COVID. It has also asked all students to remain in their rooms and packed food is being supplied to the students in the hostels.

Media statement from #IITMadras - 14th December 2020 pic.twitter.com/atJSrxP1sR

— IIT Madras (@iitmadras) December 14, 2020

The media statement reads, "IIT Madras has been permitting research scholars who need to do experimental work to return to campus since August in a calibrated manner - with a 14-day quarantine and testing of each returnee. Our capacity to quarantine is limited, and this limits the rate at which we can bring back scholars to the hostels.

It also reads, "Some project staff working on research projects and staying in the city have also been coming to work in the labs, once this was permitted by7 the government. 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."

The notice concluded, "IIT Madras has been constantly in touch with civic authorities and has been following all protocols and safety measures. The Health authorities and the institute are working closely to contain this outbreak by saturation testing and isolation of all positive cases. The COVID positive students are admitted in the COVID Care Centre in Guindy and all of them are reported stable and keeping well."