Aligarh: Following the deaths of 34 teachers and retired colleagues due to COVID and COVID-like symptoms, the vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has written to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), urging it to study if a particular coronavirus variant is circulating around the campus.
In a letter to the director-general of ICMR, VC 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 was quoted as saying by NDTV, stressing the need for the study to control the spread of the virus.
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 genome sequencing, the report added.
Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Principal Shahid Ali Siddiqui told media persons that 25 doctors at the hospital there tested positive for the infection in the past fortnight.
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