CHENNAI: Fresh Covid-19 cases at the Vellore Institute of Technology campus in Kelambakkam rose to 42, taking the cluster tally on the campus to 74, the state health department said on Monday.
This is the fourth educational institution to report a Covid cluster since April in the state. With the new cluster, Chengalpet (46) has become the district with the maximum number of new cases, surpassing Chennai (33).
Tamil Nadu reported 89 new cases on Monday. Chennai and Chengalpet together have nearly 88% of all cases in the state.
VIT cluster rises to 42 as city records 33 new cases
Fresh Covid-19 cases at the Vellore Institute of Technology in Kelambakkam rose to 42, taking the cluster tally on the campus to 74, the health department said here on Monday. This is the fourth educational institution to report a Covid cluster since April.
With the new cluster, Chengalpet (46) has overtaken Chennai (33) as the district with the maTamil Nadu reported 89 new cases on Monday. Chennai and Chengalpet together have nearly 88% of all cases in the state. Coimbatore, Kancheepuram, Ranipet and Tirunelveli had two new cases followed by one each in Tirunelveli and Tiruvallur. Thirty of the 38 districts in the state had no new cases on Monday.
At the VIT campus, where more than 5,000 students study, samples have been drawn from more than 1,200 students till Monday. Health department officials said the cluster is likely to increase with saturation testing in the coming days. "The aim is to contain the infection as quickly as possible and prevent the spread," said health secretary J Radhakrishnan, who visited the campus.
"Standard cluster control measures have been put in place. Symptomatic persons will be tested first. This will be followed by tests for everyone. Those testing positive are isolated on campus," he said. Doctors attending to them said patients have a mild form of infection but are healthy.
Epidemiological tracking showed, like in the case of IIT-M and Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, that the cluster on the VIT campus started after a batch of students came to campus on May 14 from several states. One student who developed flu-like symptoms tested positive on May 21. "Many close contacts and secondary contacts have tested positive," he said.
