24 students test COVID-19 positive at NID in 3 days; boys’ hostel declared micro containment zone

A total of 24 students of the city-based National Institute of Design (NID) have tested positive for COVID-19 in three days, with 16 cases being reported on Sunday alone, officials said. With the detection of these cases, the academic activities of the institute have been suspended, they said.

The authorities have declared the new boys’ hostel and another block of the premier design institute as micro containment zones in an effort to contain the spread of the virus, an official of the health department of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said.

”In the last three days, 24 students of the NID have tested positive for COVID-19. They have been kept under isolation in the hostel, which has been declared a micro containment zone,” the official said. A total of 178 students in the hostel and block-C of the institute have been isolated, he said.

”Academic activities of the NID have been suspended in view of the rising COVID-19 cases,” the official said. The health department will undertake a door-to-door surveillance in the city, he said, adding that those showing symptoms of the infection will be screened and their samples tested, based on which further action will be taken.

Due to a sharp surge in infection cases in the NID, the city on Sunday saw 34 new cases, out of the total 37 reported across Gujarat. With this, the number of active cases in the state has risen to 147, the state health department said.