The second wave of the deadly coronavirus has struck Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), with more than 40 working and retired faculty members, as well as many non-teaching staff members, succumbing to the COVID-19 virus recently.
Tariq Mansoor, the Vice-Chancellor of AMU, recently lost his older brother. The dean of the Law Faculty died on Saturday as a result of COVID-19 complications.
A considerable number of AMU employees are receiving care at the AMU’s Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College hospital. The death toll maybe even higher, and the university administration believes the coronavirus is to blame.
There are no lectures and the school is deserted. According to Zeeshan, a university official, the majority of the hostellers have resigned. Several former Aligarh faculty members have died in their hometowns of Bhopal and Hyderabad.
Via an RTI, Jasim has requested crucial details from the V-C. He inquired of the VC about the lack of drugs, oxygen, and ambulances, among other things.
Locals say that considering all of its support, the university administration has been caught off guard. There are no particular mechanisms or structures in operation. People are avoiding going to the medical college for vaccination because they are afraid of contracting COVID-19.
“Fear is running rampant. The campus is swept by waves of desperation and doom. The central government should intervene to prevent the situation from deteriorating further “According to a local AMU student.
It is unclear how many of the dead were vaccinated, but it is generally assumed that a few died as a result of Covid-morbidities and advanced age.
According to the district administration, there were 417 new cases on May 8, with 295 being discharged. Local emergency professionals stated that the condition was very concerning.
Concerned about recent deaths among AMU faculty members due to COVID and COVID-like symptoms, Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor wrote to the ICMR on Sunday, requesting that it investigate the infection variant circulating on campus.
In a letter to the director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the V-C stated that the infection has claimed the lives of 16 working and 18 retired students, as well as other Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) employees, in the last 18 days.
“A specific strain could be spreading in areas around the AMU campus and nearby localities, which has resulted in these deaths,” he said, emphasizing the importance of the research to monitor the virus’s dissemination.
He went on to say that the microbiology lab at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College is sending samples to New Delhi’s Institute of Genomics and Integrated Biology for genome sequencing of variants found in the town. Meanwhile, Shahid Ali Siddiqui, the principal of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, said that 25 doctors at the hospital have tested positive for the infection in the last two weeks.
