18 more positive cases take Covid tally at IIT-Madras to 78

Chennai: As many as 18 more positive cases of Covid were reported at IIT Madras on Monday. The total number of cases reported in the IIT campus stands at 78 now.

The saturation testing, tracing and treating activity continued at IIT Madras for the fifth continuous day by health teams from the State Health Department, IIT Madras and Greater Chennai Corporation. Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan, zonal medical officer, IIT Health teams and faculty interacted with students and visited the testing and treatment facilities.

Health Minister said that only about 2.9 per cent of the samples have tested positive and people need not panic. He said that all those affected are stable, of which 40 people are not having any symptoms, while others have mild symptoms. He said that the infection is expected to have spread through the college canteen and now the food is being provided to their respective rooms in the hostels.

"People are not wearing masks and remain complacent, which leads to the easy spread of the infection. Vaccination is very important in such times and we are going to organise mega vaccination drive with about 1 lakh camps across the State. About 40 lakh people have not taken the first dose and 1.4 crore second doses are to be given. Overall, 2 crore doses are to be administered. The announcement of vaccination camps will be made on Monday," he said.