Udupi, Mar 27: With 704 students testing positive for covid-19 so far this cluster, the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) campus has emerged the single driving factor of coronavirus cases in the coastal district of Udupi. The institute was first declared a containment zone on March 17.
Udupi’s positivity rate is more than 4%, and 85% of the district’s active cases are from the MIT campus while the rest of the 15% cases are spread all over the district, the district administration said.
Dr Prashant Bhat, District Surveillance Officer, Udupi, said, “The positivity rate of the district for March, by and large, is 4%. The positivity rate at MIT campus alone is 14%. There are no other containment zones in the district. Excluding MIT, the district has a positivity of 1.35%, which is less than the state’s average.”
On Thursday, out of 145 cases in Udupi district, 111 cases were from MIT campus alone. On Friday as well, with 184 more people in the campus testing positive for the infection, MIT accounted for over 87% of the total cases reported from Udupi district.
“We have travellers from Kerala and Maharashtra, who are contributing to cases. In March, the students didn’t observe social distancing. Parties will obviously spread the disease. We have traced roughly 1,500 contacts who have to be tested on day 7. There’s a high chance they may test positive because they may be in incubation period,” Dr Bhat said.
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