Over 600 higher education institutes to serve as quarantine centres

People from various states wait for their screening after arriving at a quarantine centre to spend mandatory 14 days of quarantine, in Guwahati. (Source: Shutterstock)

Team Careers360 | May 28, 2020 | 05:50 PM IST

NEW DELHI: To combat the spread of coronavirus, over 600 higher education institutes are being converted into quarantine facilities across the country.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development announced the development through the official twitter handle on Thursday.

After the inter-state movement of the migrant workers started, the need for quarantine centres has significantly increased. With classes on hold and exams postponed, several universities have already converted into isolation centres. As per the official guidelines, passengers coming from other states are required to undergo 14 days mandatory quarantine.

Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay in Mumbai and Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad were turned into quarantine centres in March.

Institutes across the nation are being converted into isolation/quarantine centres.

We thank these institutions for coming forward to join us in the #FightAgainstCOVID19! pic.twitter.com/xF2ZYZYIeO
— Ministry of HRD (@HRDMinistry) May 28, 2020

A newly constructed hostel at Indian Institute of Management, Shillong was also offered as a care facility to the Meghalaya Government earlier this month. The quarantine facility is also the largest in Meghalaya. The Centre has 258 rooms with attached bathrooms and will be utilised for effective isolation of COVID19 related cases.

Gautam Buddha University in Greater Noida has also set up quarantine centres for COVID-19 cases.

Hostels eviction

Hostels in Cotton University and Gauhati University along with Assam University will also be converted into quarantine centres on the directives of Disaster Management Authority.

For this purpose, students residing in the hostels have been asked to collect their belongings and vacate the rooms at the earliest. The quarantine centres will be catering to the passengers coming from outside of Assam.

For screening the people entering the state, Tezpur University was turned into a zonal quarantine centre, Times of India reported.

Schools quarantine centres

To reduce the burden on public healthcare centres unused hostels in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas were transformed for the patients. Classrooms in Kendriya Vidyalayas were also converted into housing facilities for suspected cases.