Hindu College professor, CL Jonwal dies due to Covid

NEW DELHI: Delhi University's Hindu College lost one of its professors to coronavirus on Tuesday, its principal Dr Anju Srivastava said. Dr CL Jonwal (43), was a zoology professor, who succumbed to the virus in the early hours on Tuesday at AIIMS. He was promoted to the post of associate professor on March 30, and is survived by his wife and a daughter, aged 12, and a son, aged 5. His wife is an ad-hoc teacher of mathematics in the varsity. Jonwal was a key member of the COVID-19 task force in college and had arranged hospital beds and oxygen for many of his colleagues.

Dr Anju Srivastava said, "I am not able to come to terms with it. He joined the college in 2006 and was very bright and committed to his work. We were able to arrange a bed for him in AIIMS but we lost him. He was initially admitted to a hospital in Alwar." Jonwal was infected with coronavirus around April 29 and left Delhi in the first week of May, she said. Initially, he was in home isolation. When his oxygen levels dropped, he arranged for the gas at home but had to be hospitalized in Alwar on May 10. He underwent treatment there but his condition worsened.

The college principal said around 35 teachers of the college, including her, have been infected by the virus till now. "There were one or two serious cases but they have also recovered," she said. According to Dr Anupam Varshney, HOD of the Zoology Department of the college, he was brought to AIIMS and was found to be suffering from severe Covid pneumonia. "His oxygen levels had crossed 90 a couple of days ago but his BP was low and in the early hours today, he suffered a cardiac arrest," she said.

Jonwal's wife was also infected but she has recovered and was taking care of him. "I think she forgot her own pain while taking care of him," Dr Varshney said. Srivastava and Varshney said they both received long thank you messages from Jonwal 10 days ago for checking up on him and personally monitoring his condition. The department also held an online condolence meeting for him. Jonwal had written on Facebook about how the varsity should set up a Covid care centre for its staffers. At least 40 staffers of the varsity have succumbed to the virus till now.

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