THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The College of Engineering Trivandrum (CET) has suspended offline classes following an outbreak of chickenpox on the campus. College authorities said the infection has been confirmed in eight students while symptoms have been observed in several others.
Dr Suresh K, Principal, CET, said the students have been asked to vacate the hostels by Friday noon. “The offline classes on the campus will be cancelled till March 15 based on the advice of the Health Department officials. The classes will be conducted online till then,” said the principal. The students have been barred from entering the campus.
The first case was reported in the women’s hostel on February 27. Later, students in the men’s hostel and those staying in the private hostels also developed the infection. There are around 40 private hostel accommodations nearby. Health Department officials said that they have confirmed four cases so far.
“We visited one student who was confirmed with the infection. The others have left for their home town and we contacted them over phone,” said a health officer.
He said that the advice to close down the campus was a precautionary measure as chicken pox is highly infectious and spreads airborne. There are 4,500 students, 330 teaching and 290 non-teaching staff on the CET campus.
There have been 33 cases reported from the district and 560 cases reported across the state so far in this month. Over 6,000 cases and five deaths have been reported this year. The disease outbreaks are usually reported during the summer season.
Health experts have urged people not to self- medicate and instead seek treatment as soon as possible. Infants, teenagers, seniors, pregnant women, HIV patients, cancer patients, organ transplant recipients, chemotherapy/steroid drug users, and long-term lung/skin disease patients should take special care as the disease may become severe.
The college offers undergraduate B.Tech and B.Arch programs. It also offers part-time and full-time postgraduate programs in engineering and architecture, as well as Master of Business Administration and Master of Computer Applications.