IIT Madras Turns Covid-19 Cluster with 145 Testing Positive Within a Week, Timeline of What Happened

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has now turned into a Covid-19 cluster with 145 cases being reported on campus. The institute reported 33 more Covid cases on April 28 thus taking the total to 145. A total of 4,974 samples have been tested so far.

Principal Secretary, Health, Dr J Radhakrishnan has told news agency ANI that few more cases have been reported in IIT Madras today. The institution continues to remain open. He added that it is part of the government’s saturation test and there is nothing to panic about. “We are ensuring that the cluster doesn’t spread to other places” he said.

Interestingly, IIT Madras has been working on several initiatives to curb covid-19 including a proposed drug which can treat mild and moderately affected patients, however, soon the institute has been acting as a hub for covid-19. A look at what happened at the top-ranking IIT so far:

3 students test positive: Initially, three students had tested Covid positive on the campus following which more samples were collected of students with mild symptoms.

Covid toll at 12: After the results of samples came out, on April 21, more students positive, taking the total number of positive cases to 12 at the campus.

IIT releases research on covid-19 cure: IIT-Madras researchers had recently released a report stating Covid-19 patients with mild or moderate conditions can be treated with Indomethacin.

Tally jumps above 100: After 12 students tested positive, the Covid tally at the IIT Madras campus reached 111 as of Tuesday, April 26.

145 cases in a day: After 33 more tested positive on campus, the total cases has now risen to 145 within a day.

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Tamil Nadu health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan had visited the campus multiple times to ensure that Covid-19 preventive measures are being taken. Chennai zonal medical officer Dr Alby, and the health secretary also visited the institute and advised the students to wear face masks at all times and maintain social distancing and other related protocols.

The Tamil Nadu health department had said of initial 25 samples were sent from the institute for whole genomic sequencing, new variants have not been found. “All the 25 samples lifted from IIT-M sent for whole genomic sequencing revealed BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron and no new variant has been detected. Already, in March, 93 per cent of the results had revealed BA.2 Omicron sub-variant,” the state health department said in a statement.

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On the other hand, IIT-Madras researchers had recently released a report stating Covid-19 patients with mild or moderate conditions can be treated with Indomethacin. It is an affordable, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug with more than 20 lakh prescriptions per year in the US alone. It is an established drug widely used since the 1960s to treat various types of inflammation-related issues.

“Knowing that one of the deadly effects of the COVID infection is inflammation and the cytokine storm, we decided to study the non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug, Indomethacin. The scientific evidence strongly shows the anti-viral action against Coronavirus. Indomethacin is a safe and well-understood drug. I have been using it in my profession for the past thirty years,” Dr Rajan Ravichandran an Adjunct Faculty at IIT Madras and Director Nephrology at MIOT hospitals had said.

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