5 IIT hostels sealed after 60 students test Covid +ve

DEHRADUN: Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases in the state, five hostels in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have been sealed and declared containment zones after 60 students tested positive for the virus, said IIT officials on Wednesday.

Of the total 60 students, 54 were detected on Monday followed by six more on Tuesday evening. Following the development, the institute has asked its students to not return from home till further order.

IIT Roorkee media cell in-charge Sonika Srivastava said, “After the 60 students were tested positive in the institute, five hostels named Korle, Kasturba, Sarojini, Govind Bhavan and Vigyan Kunj have been sealed and declared containment zones by the Haridwar district health department.

The Institute has at present about 3000 students of which about 1200 are in these five hostels.”

She said that all the students of the abovementioned hostels have been asked to remain inside their room where they are being provided with food and other required facilities.

“The institute has turned its Ganga Bhavan hostel as the Covid care centre under the supervision of district health department where the infected students are being treated. Apart from this, one guest house and another inhouse establishment have been turned into quarantine centres for the first contacts of the infected students,” she said.

Srivastava informed that a committee has been formed by the management to “handle and manage the Covid-19 situation.”

“After the infections, the management has asked the other planning to return from homes to stay back till further order.

Also, the classes are being held online only,” she said adding the students outside the sealed hostels are allowed to go out of premises only for two hours.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand on Wednesday recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases in a day this year so far with detection of total 1109 cases taking the total number of cases in the state to 104711.

The state also recorded five more deaths related to Covid-19 infection taking the total death toll to 1741 with a mortality rate of 1.66% in the state.

According to the Covid related data shared by the state health department, of the total number of cases detected on Tuesday, maximum- 509 were reported in Dehradun district followed by Haridwar with 308 and Nainital with 113 cases.