The coronavirus pandemic has tightened its grip over the in-making technocrats at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras as 66 of its students have reported being positive of the virus.

Taking stern action, the institute has shut down its departments, centres, labs and the library citing a spurt in coronavirus cases in hostels.

Faculty and students have been asked to work from home amid the crisis.

IIT said that the hostels had only 10 per cent of the usual residents and all were tested after a few reported positive.

Students still in hostels are being supplied packed food, it said.

As per the reports, a total of 31 students tested positive on Sunday and were admitted to the government Covid Care Centre in Guindy.

“Some Project Staff working on research projects and staying in the city have been coming to work in the labs, once this was permitted by the government. A SoP is in place to determine how many scholars and project staff can work safely in each lab based on its size, ventilation etc. Research scholars who wished to return earlier (out of turn with respect to the SoP involving quarantine before release into the hostels) were permitted to do so if they were willing to stay off campus similar to project staff, till their turn came to be accepted in the hostels, and provided their lab could accommodate them,” the statement released by the IIT said.

“IIT Madras has been constantly in touch with the civic authorities and has been following all protocols and safety measures,” it added.

India has reported 27,071 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s total Covid-19 caseload to 98.84 lakhs, according to Health Ministry data.

The total coronavirus caseload in India is 98,84,100 out of which active coronavirus caseload is 3,52,586 cases. The number of fresh cases recorded is 10.5 per cent less than the previous day, and active cases constitute 3.57 per cent of the total cases.

The number of deaths due to the virus stands at 1,43,355 with 336 new fatalities reported.

On the positive side, 93,88,159 patients recovered from the disease pushing the national recovery rate to 94.98 per cent.