After 34 deaths among teachers and retired colleagues due to Covid, the AMU vice-chancellor wrote to the ICMR, urging it to study if a particular coronavirus variant is circulating around the campus.
As many as 34 working professors of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) have succumbed to Covid and Covid-like symptoms in the last 18 days. Professor Shakeel Samdani, dean of the law faculty of AMU who was undergoing treatment at Aligarh’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College died on Saturday.
Professor Shakeel Samdani was a member of the Executive Committee of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He was admitted to the Covid ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh University 10 days ago. Samadani was also suffering from diabetes and hypertension.
On April 20, the first death of a professor was recorded. All the deceased professors lived in different areas of Aligarh city. Earlier, Medical Department Chairman Professor Shadab Ahmed Khan (58 years) and Computer Department Professor Rafiqul Zaman Khan (55 years) also scummed to Covid-19. At the same time, Umar Farooq, brother of Vice-Chancellor Mansoor also died from Coronavirus. He was a former member of the University Court and a member of the Mohammedan Educational Conference.
In a letter to the director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (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 said, 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 the genome sequencing.
Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Principal Shahid Ali Siddiqui said that 25 doctors at the hospital there tested positive for the infection in the past fortnight.
Currently, only three doctors are under treatment as others have recovered from the infection, he said.
The head of the Medicine Department at the college, Prof Shadaab Khan, had died from Covid-19 two days ago.
The college principal said the hospital is battling a shortage of medical oxygen and totally dependent on its three liquid oxygen plants.
For the past 12 days, the hospital has not received a single oxygen cylinder from outside despite continuous efforts, he said.
With PTI inputs