60 COVID-19 cases in IIT Kharagpur; 3 IIM Calcutta hostels declared containment zones

Sixty people, including 40 students and researchers, residing on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur campus have been found to be COVID-19 positive, an official from the institute said on January 4.

A majority of the infected individuals either have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic, and are being treated at home or in isolation wards set up in the institute’s hostels, informed IIT Kharagpur’s registrar Tamal Nath.

“We have been urging members of the IIT Kharagpur family to get themselves tested whenever they have fever-like 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 the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases all around, we too have to face up to the (emergent) situation,” he added.

Nath said that after the institute’s convocation on December 18, IIT Kharagpur had decided to bring back students in phases to the campus after a one-and-a-half-year hiatus. But those plans were put paid to owing to the Omicron wave.

“With the sudden surge in COVID-19 cases in the past two days, we are again postponing the resumption of classes in the on-campus mode and sticking to online classes only,” Nath added.

When asked if on-campus classes will now be deferred indefinitely, Nath said, “Students were eager to return to campus; we all want the campus activities to resume. But (now, we have) no idea when that can happen.”

Back in Kolkata, three hostels at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta campus have been declared as containment zones after at least 35 people tested COVID-19 positive in the last two to three days. Most of the COVID-19 patients have mild symptoms and have been quarantined, institute officials informed.

West Bengal recorded 9,073 new COVID-19 cases on January 4, a sharp jump from the 6,078 instances reported on January 3.