67 students test positive on MIT campus of Anna varsity

Infected students kept under quarantine; others vacate facility

As many as 67 students — 48 boys and 19 girls — on the MIT campus of Anna University have tested positive for COVID-19 infection. While 16 students have been sent for home quarantine, the rest have been isolated in two separate hostels — Marutham (for boys) and Ponni (for girls). All students are asymptomatic, a university official said.

All the other hostel residents who had tested negative for the infection, were asked to vacate the premises on Wednesday. MIT Dean T. Thyagarajan said the institution began testing students as a precautionary measure. According to him, till date, nearly 1,700 hostel students had been tested.

“We started testing the students on December 29 and on the next day, the results showed seven of them — one boy and six girls — had tested positive. On January 2, 255 students were tested and seven girls were found to be infected. On January 3, 797 samples were taken, the results of which came on Wednesday. A total of 53 students — 47 boys and six girls, were infected by the virus. On Tuesday, 196 students were tested while another 300 students have given their samples on Wednesday,” he said.