IIT-Madras COVID Tally Rises to 145 After 33 More Test Positive in Campus

Tamil Nadu health department said that no new variant was identified when the initial 25 samples were sent from the IIT cluster for whole genomic sequencing.

Chennai: The cluster of COVID-19 cases detected continues to expand at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras as 33 more people tested positive taking the total to 145 confirmed cases at the campus of the 4,974 samples tested so far. Tamil Nadu health department said that no new variant was identified when the initial 25 samples were sent from the IIT cluster for whole genomic sequencing.

“All the 25 samples lifted from IIT-M sent for whole genomic sequencing revealed BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron and no new variant has been detected. Already, in March, 93 per cent of the results had revealed BA.2 Omicron sub-variant,” the state health department said.

The COVID tally at the campus was 111 till Tuesday and the numbers sharply rose to 145 within a day. For the past week, the IIT-Madras campus has seen a rise in coronavirus cases. Tamil Nadu’s health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan has also visited the campus multiple times to ensure that preventive measures are taken to stave off the COVID uptick. Accompanied by Chennai zonal medical officer Dr Alby, the health secretary visited the institute and advised the students on campus to wear face masks and maintain social distancing.

Earlier on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu recorded 77 new COVID-19 infections, which includes a returnee from Meghalaya, pushing the total caseload to 34,53,756. Among those who tested positive include 52 men and 25 women. The death toll remained unchanged at 38,025 with nil fatalities being recorded in the last 24 hours, the health department said.

Chennai accounted for the majority of new coronavirus infections with 59, Chengalpet seven, Tiruvallur three, Coimbatore two, while Dindigul, Kancheepuram, Tuticorin, Vellore and Virudhunagar recorded one case each. The state capital leads among districts with 298 active infections and 7,51,613 cases overall.

A total of 20,386 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 6,61,09,506, the bulletin said.