Post St Stephen's cluster, unis rush to tighten Covid rules

New delhi: The increase in Coronavirus cases in the national Capital has prompted institutions of higher education here including the Delhi University (DU) and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to take necessary steps to control the spread of the virus on their campuses and issued necessary guidelines for students, staff and other employees on campus.

While the DU issued guidelines on Saturday advising students to stay at home or their hostels and avoid physical presence for their academic work unless "very essential", the JNU on Sunday made it mandatory for all to wear masks at all times inside the campus.

In a notice, the DU said that academic activities and essential works will continue with thermal screening at gates, social distancing and wearing masks mandatorily, while entry inside the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Arts, hostels and halls among other places will be restricted and no outsiders allowed.

The university has also cancelled booking of conference centre and seminar hall for any functions till further notice.

The JNU circular said that "any violation would attract closure of shop or canteen for two days initially, and further violation will be dealt with strictly as per guidelines and norms of the government of India, the Delhi government and the University notification, etc".

This comes as DU's St Stephen's College on Friday notified that 13 of its students and two staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 after a trip to Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh in the last week of March.

In a response to the outbreak, college principal John Varghese said the inner perimeter of the college is out of bounds for all".

"The outer perimeter of the college may be accessed by those with relevant and regular work after due process at the security counter. Faculty who are scheduled to come to college may defer their coming till a notification informs them of an improvement in the condition," a notice by the principal said.

Unlike the DU and the JNU, which have allowed sections of students to return to campus as part of their reopening process, Jamia Millia Islamia so far has not resumed offline operation.

A Jamia official told that the varsity will issue guidelines on Monday after discussing the situation with HoDs and other staff members.