IIT Bhubaneswar turns into COVID Hotspot as 10 Students Test Positive, Get Details Here

IIT Bhubaneswar turns into COVID Hotspot: As per the latest update, the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneshwar – has turned into a COVID-19 hotspot, with over 10 students testing positive for Coronavirus infection on campus. Following the detection of COVID cases, the institute has gone into lockdown mode and also postponed arrival of next batch to a later date. According to the earlier schedule, the new batch of students were to resume their on-campus studies soon, but the same has been deferred until 4^th April 2021 in the light of the prevailing situation.

Official Statement Issued

Following the identification of cases on the campus, IIT Bhubaneswar issued an official statement confirming the same and providing an update on the health of the infected students. The statement issued on 28^th March – Sunday read “All 10 students are now in the isolation centre of the institute and are being taken care of. In view of the positive cases upon entry, the Institute postponed the arrival of the next batch of students scheduled for 4^th April 2021.” The statement also added that so far the campus of IIT Bhubaneswar has remained COVID free except for five cases in September 2020. But, now there are 10 cases, and all infected students have been transferred to the isolated quarantine center.

Phase-wise Reopening of the Institute

Keeping in mind the safety of students and the staff-members, the institute had adopted phase-wise reopening strategy for the students. As part of this, so far about 50 per cent of senior undergraduate and postgraduate students are on campus with 100 per cent of research students. As a precautionary measure, IIT Bhubaneswar has also made the RT-PCR test and 15 days quarantining mandatory for all students who are returning to campus from across the country.

The statement further added that "During the quarantining period, the student health is monitored and food is delivered in the isolated room of a student. While in the first three batches, there was not even a single COVID case reported, in the fourth batch that arrived at the quarantine center of the institute during 20-22 of this month, three students' test reports with COVID-19 positive status were received late after arrival. All in the entire floor of the quarantine center were tested and seven more students (mainly because of traveling/contacting the first three) were found positive."