Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) in Udupi district’s Manipal reported 145 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday. This takes the total number of infections in this COVID-19 cluster in Karnataka to 299.
The Udupi district administration detected the new COVID-19 cases as part of testing students and their contacts within the containment zone at the MIT. On Wednesday evening, the Udupi district administration declared the MIT campus in Manipal, in particular its hostel areas, a containment zone.
Of the 1,973 COVID-19 tests carried out on Sunday in the Udupi district, 170 persons tested positive for coronavirus, according to Dr Sudhir Chandra Sooda, the District Health Officer (DHO) in Udupi. The positivity rate (percentage of individuals within a population testing positive for the virus) reported on Sunday is over 8%.
The MIT campus in Manipal has been cordoned off after it was declared a containment zone, but other areas in the town, including the KMC campus, do not have restrictions at present.
Officials at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) said that a number of students left the campus after producing a COVID-19 test negative certificate. Visuals of students gathered at the entrance of the MIT campus were shared widely on Thursday evening, a day after the campus was declared a containment zone.
The students were seen arguing with security officials, asking the latter to allow them to leave the campus. Eventually, the students were allowed to leave and some of them confirmed to TNM that they left the campus without a COVID-19 test negative certificate.
Several colleges under MAHE have announced that classes will be held online and this has prompted a number of students to leave the town. MIT Manipal is currently managing a fever clinic and testing facility on the campus which is run by Kasturba Medical College. The University has advised students to remain in the campus area and limit their movement for essential needs.
The cases on the MIT Manipal campus comes on a day Karnataka reported 1,715 COVID-19 cases, including 1,039 new cases in Bengaluru. This continued the surge in the COVID-19 cases reported in the state this month. There are 14 containment zones in Bengaluru currently with three new clusters detected on Friday and Saturday.