The Tamil Nadu Health Department has put the Anna University campus on high alert after six students tested COVID-19 positive. Of the 40 samples tested so far, six turned positive on Tuesday, May 24. The Health Department has conducted tests on other samples and is waiting for the results. Contact tracing, testing of asymptomatic people, and saturation tests will also be done to prevent any further spread of the disease on the campus, sources in the health department told IANS.
Tamil Nadu health secretary J Radhakrishnan who paid a visit to the campus said that the department is taking all measures to prevent any more spread of the disease and called upon students to isolate themselves. More tests would be conducted among students on the campus, the authorities said and called upon students and faculty to be on high alert and to take preventive measures themselves.
They also called upon students to undergo tests immediately if they have any symptoms of the disease like influenza, cold, fever, and cough. The department in a circular called on the students and faculty and other staff members not to wait for testing and to do it on a priority basis if they have COVID-19 like symptoms.
The health secretary said that COVID-19 cases are under control and added that even after taking both doses of vaccination, some people are testing positive. Health Department officials said that the COVID-19 clusters are formed only among people who have a travel history or attending functions where there was a huge gathering. The recent clusters in IIT-Madras and Sri Sathya Sai Medical College were due to the BA.2 variant of Omicron, they added.
Meanwhile, the first case of COVID-19 Omicron BA. 4 sub lineage variant in the state was a teenager and a part of a four-member family with no travel history and had taken two jabs of the vaccine against the virus, the health secretary said on Monday. The BA.2 is the predominant variant reported in 73% of the samples sequenced for Whole Genomic Sequencing (WGS) of COVID-19 samples in Tamil Nadu at present.