Covid-19 infections rise to 60 at IIT Madras; authorities on high-alert

Tamil Nadu to hold mass vaccination drive across 100,000 centres on May 8, will target 4.3 mn people who are yet to take first dose, 13 mn who need the second

With as many as 60 people testing positive for Covid-19 at IIT Madras, the state government is on high alert already asking the health system to be on stand-by mode and taking steps to increase the pace of vaccination in a vaccine hesitant state.

On Sunday, five more cases were reported at the campus, taking the total number of people affected to 60. During the past 24 hours, the state added 53 fresh cases, taking the total active cases numbers to 310. “Covid situation under control at IIT Madras – Cases have declined to five positive out of 591 tested on Saturday, from 22 out of 729 tested a day before,” said a Tweet by IIT Madras. So far a total of 2,013 tests were conducted in the campus.

After the spike in cases at IIT cluster, the state government had made masks mandatory in public places and also asked hospitals to be ready, in case of a fresh wave. The state will also be organising a mass vaccination drive across 100,000 centres on May 8. The drive will target 4.3 million people who are yet to take the first dose and 13 million who have not  taken the second.  

According to the state health department only around 46 per cent of frontline workers and 64 per cent of health sector workers have taken both the doses. In addition to this, only around 58 per cent of the people above 60 years have taken both the doses. The state also increased the number of tests from 18,000 to around 25,000 after the IIT Madras cases.