Covid case sparks panic at OUCT
There is some amount of fear and panic among the teaching and non-teaching employees of major educational institutions in the city after a staff member of the Osmania College of Technology (OUCT) died of Covid-19.
The Employees Union of OU sent a memorandum to the varsity’s Registrar insisting on sanitisation of the premises and a shutdown of the college for 14 days. In a letter addressed to the Registrar, the Service Associations at the university also demanded that the University campus be declared a containment zone.
However, the college has been ordered to shut for only the next three days, until Monday. President of the Technical Staff Association, J Rajeshwar Rao said, “It is more dangerous and life-threatening for the administrative staff that is working all week on campus. We work as a team and we don't have the luxury to self-isolate while at work. We take that risk back home at the end of every day. The teaching staff is also fearful of coming to work. We have now requested the Registrar and Vice-Chancellor of the University to declare Osmania University a containment zone.”
The principal of OUCT, Prof Shyam Sunder, said that according to the information he had received from close associates of the deceased, the latter came to the college on June 3 and had no symptoms. “On June 7, he fell unconscious and suffered a head injury. He was admitted to Gandhi Hospital, where he tested positive on June 8. He had multiple co-morbidities such as asthma and diabetes,” Prof Sunder said.
He added that the college has been sanitised and the health department has been requested to repeat the sanitisation process on June 12 and June 15, and thermal screening machines have been installed at the entrance. Thermal tests were also conducted for available staff and security guards at the campus on Wednesday.
The Registrar of Osmania University, Dr Ch Gopal Reddy said he has taken cognizance of the issues raised by the employees and has requested all principals not to insist on staffers coming to work.