Aligarh (UP), May 10
After 34 deaths among teachers and retired colleagues due to COVID and COVID-like symptoms, the AMU vice-chancellor wrote to the ICMR on Sunday, urging it to study if a particular coronavirus variant is circulating around the campus.
In a letter to the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), V-C Tariq Mansoor said 16 serving and 18 retired teachers besides other employees of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) have succumbed to the infection in the past 18 days.
There is a possibility that a particular variant may be circulating in areas around the AMU campus and surrounding localities, which has led to these deaths , he said, stressing the need for the study to control the spread of the virus.
Aligarh Muslim University sends Covid samples for viral genome sequencing after 16 faculty deaths
Aligarh Muslim University sends Covid samples for viral genome sequencing after 16 faculty deaths
AMU Vice-Chancellor has written to the ICMR Director-General after growing suspicion of a new Covid-19 variant fuelling the surge of coronavirus cases in Aligarh. The varsity has also sent samples to the CSIR in New Delhi for viral genome sequencing.
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File photo of Aligarh Muslim University.
Alarmed by the deaths of at least 34 staffers including teachers, the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has sent samples collected at its Covid-19 laboratory to the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi for viral genome sequencing.