64 GNLU Students Test Positive In 6 Days Amid Fresh COVID Wave Warning

Gandhinagar: COVID-19 is again raising its ugly head with 64 students of Gandhinagar-based Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) testing positive for the virus in the last six days.

Those infected had met physically for the first time after offline classes resumed on April 4, Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation Medical Officer of Health Dr Kalpesh Goswami was quoted as saying by PTI.

They have been kept in isolation in the institute’s hostel with three teams monitoring their health round the clock, he said.

Goswani further said around 700 students and staff of the university have been screened for the virus so far.

Some samples have been sent for genome sequencing to find out the coronavirus variant involved, he added.

Notably, leading epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim had warned about a fresh wave of COVID infections around May driven by a new variant, likely to be called Pi.

“That fifth wave will need to be driven by the new variant. That new variant is likely to be Pi. The Pi is the next letter in the Greek alphabet, and it comes after Omicron. We now have to be ready for Pi. We have to anticipate that we are likely to see Pi probably in early May and we now have to make sure we have the tools to deal with it when it comes along.” Abdool Karim was quoted as saying by IOL.

Meanwhile, World Health Organization has added two new sub-variants of the highly transmissible Omicron strain of the coronavirus – BA.4 and BA.5 – to its list for monitoring to assess whether they are more infectious or dangerous.

The sub-variants have so far been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the UK.