PUNE: Thirteen second- and third-year engineering students from MIT World Peace University (WPU), Kothrud campus, have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past one week.
The college has continued with the classes both online and offline following all the protocols announced by the UGC and the state government.
The administration said that the students were working for a competition in the college workshop on December 16 and 19.
They were preparing for a national level SUPRA competition of car racing for engineering students.
The college began contact tracing the classmates after a student’s test came positive on December 23. Of the 25 students whose samples were tested, 12 tested positive on December 26. The college administration said they were all vaccinated and except for the first student, all were asymptomatic and in home isolation.
Registrar Prashant Dave told TOI on Monday that the first student detected with Covid-19 was reported by their security personnel. “We had informed the student’s parents and ensured that the required Covid test was done. All other staff, mentors and students were also immediately alerted and when his report was positive, the staff tracked down the other students and mentors who came in contact with him.”
He said only the fully vaccinated students were allowed to attend offline classes ever since they reopened. “The vaccination certificates of all the 25 students whose tests were conducted for Covid are available with the college administration. We have also ensured that there is no lapse in following the safety precautions. The alertness of the security personnel helped us. The 12 other students who tested positive have been told to stay in isolation till their next reports are negative. Fortunately, none of them have any symptoms of Covid and are doing perfectly fine,” Dave said.
