70 staff members of Aligarh Muslim University have dead in 18 days, sample sent fearing new ‘AMU strain’ of Coronavirus
Around 16,000 AMU students still stay in 19 hostels and many of whom stayed on in the earlier wave - when the university was shut - but now even they are leaving.
From senior professors to para-teachers in rural pockets, from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, both bearing the brunt of the raging pandemic, all sections of the teaching community are reeling under the loss of colleagues and friends.
Forty-four employees of the Aligarh Muslim University – 19 professors and 25 non-teaching staff – have died after contracting the Covid virus, sparking concern over yet more cases, and deaths, emerging from the prestigious educational institution.
In a letter to the ICMR, Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor said “a particular variant may be circulating in areas around the AMU campus and surrounding localities, which has led to these deaths”.
He further said the microbiology laboratory at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College here is sending samples to the Institute of Genomic and Integrated Biology laboratory, New Delhi, for viral genome sequencing, as it suspects a new Covid-19 variant.
Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Principal Shahid Ali Siddiqui told mediapersons that 25 doctors at the hospital there tested positive for the infection in the past fortnight.
“The university’s cemetery is now full. This is a huge tragedy. A lot of big doctors and senior professors, including a dean and a chairman, have died. Young people – who are fit and healthy – have also died,” Dr Arshi Khan, a professor of political science, said.
Some of the other senior professors in the university who lost their battles to Covid in the last few weeks are Sajid Ali Khan, chairman of the Department of Psychology; Shadab Ahmed Khan, chairman of the Department of Medicine; and, Khalid Bin Yusuf, former chairman of the Department of Sanskrit.
