'Study COVID variant circulating on AMU campus': V-C, worried by deaths of faculty members, urges ICMR chief

This comes a day after Dean of Faculty of Law at Aligarh Muslim University professor Shakil Ahmed Samdani died at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for coronavirus

FP Staff May 09, 2021 18:29:58 IST

'Study COVID variant circulating on AMU campus': V-C, worried by deaths of faculty members, urges ICMR chief

File image of Aligarh Muslim Univesity. Image courtesy www.amu.ac.in

Spooked by the recent deaths of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) faculty due to COVID-19 , Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor on Sunday penned a letter asking the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to study the " COVID-19 variant" circulating around campus.

“This is to bring into your notice that 16 AMU faculty members, a number of retired teachers and employees in other categories, who were living in the university campus and adjoining localities have succumbed to COVID-19 . This is giving rise to a suspicion that a particular viral variant may be circulating in the Civil Lines area of Aligarh in which AMU and many adjoining localities are situated,” professor Mansoor wrote to ICMR chief Balram Bhargavam.

The letter from AMU V-C Tariq Mansoor to ICMR chief Balram Bhargava.

He further said the microbiology laboratory at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College is sending samples to the Institute of Genomic and Integrated Biology laboratory, New Delhi, for the genome sequencing of variants detected in the town.

"I request you to instruct the concerned section/department of the ICMR to perform analysis of COVID-19 samples sent from our lab to investigate for any particular viral variants of COVID-19 virus circulating in Aligarh, which may be giving rise to greater severity of the disease, so that we may consider other epidemiological links and measures to control the same as per advice and recommendations”, the letter further stated.

This comes a day after Dean of Faculty of Law at Aligarh Muslim University professor Shakil Ahmed Samdani died at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital where he was undergoing treatment for coronavirus , an official said.

43 AMU faculty members who passed away during the COVID pandemic:

Name	Department
1) Dr. Arshad Ahmad	Dept of Physics
2) Prof. Shadab Khan	Dept of Medicine
3) Prof. Rafiqul Zaman	Dept. of computer science
4) Dr. Irfan Ahmed	Dept. of zoology
5) Shakeel Samdan	Dept. of law
6) Prof. Shabbir	Dept. of law
7) Ahmad Farooq	Elder brother of VC Tariq sahab
8) Dr. Jibreel	Dept. of History
9) Dr. Aziz Faisal	Women's Studies
10) Dr. Siraj Anwar	Dept. of History
11) M Abbas Mehd	Dept. of History
12) Mis Hijazia City School
13) Prof. Saeeduz Zafar	Dept. of Psychology
14) Prof. Sajid Ali Khan
15) Prof. Khalid bin Yusuf	Dept. of Sanskrit
16) Prof. Saeed Siddiqui, Dept. of Botany	Dept. of Botany
17) Prof. M Mubashshir	Dept. of Medicine
18) Prof. Sifat Afzal	Dept. of Medicine
19) Prof. Farman Husain	Dept. of Theology
20) Dr. Mohammad Yusuf Ansari	Dept. of English
21) Prof. Mohammad Yunus Siddiqui	Dept. of Moalejat
22) Prof. Mohammad Arif	Dept. of Medicine
23) Prof. Gufran Ahmad	Dept. of ilmul advia
24) Mohammad Ali Khan	Dept. of post harvest engineering
25) Prof. Farhatullah Khan	Dept. of English
26) Prof. Qazi Mohammad Jamshed	Dept. of political science
27) Prof. Mukhtar Husain,	Dept. of Moalejat
28) Dr. Furqan Sambhali	Dept. of Urdu
29) Prof. Irfan	Dept. of Museology
30) Dr. Aziz Saleem	Dept. of Museology
31) Prof. Nabi Ahmad	Dept. of Education
32) Prof. Najmul Haq	Dept. of Education
33) Professor Iqbal Ansari	Dept. of Physics
34) Prof. Iqbal Ali	University Polytechnic
35) Prof. Saeeduz Zaman	University Polytechnic
36) Dr. Ehsanullah Fahad	Dept. of Theology
37) Prof. Zubair Ahmed	Dept. of Mathematics
38) Prof. Maula Bakhsh Ansari	Dept. of Urdu
39) Prof. Humayun Murad	Dept. of Zoology
40) Prof. Jamshed Siddiqui	Dept. computer science
41) Prof. SM Rizwan	Dept. of English
42) Prof. Vakeel Jafri	Dept. of Physics
43) Prof. Masood Alam	Dept. of Urdu.

AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar said 59-year-old Samdani was admitted to the hospital in the varsity 10 days ago after he tested positive for COVID-19 . He initially seemed to have recovered but his condition suddenly deteriorated a few days back, the official said.

On Friday, professor Rafiqul Zaman Khan (55), till recently the chairman of the Department Computer Science, passed away at the medical college hospital due to COVID-19 . Two days ago, former dean of the Law Department, professor Mohamed Shabbir Ahmad (70), died of COVID-like symptoms.

He was the founder-head of the Ambedkar Chair in the Department of Law and had also served as the acting vice-chancellor of AMU, the spokesperson said.

On Thursday, AMU in a statement said that noted Sanskrit scholar professor Khalid Bin Yusuf passed away after a brief illness.

Professor Yusuf (60) was showing COVID-19 symptoms and had acute pneumonia, his family said. He passed away on Wednesday night while being treated at a hospital, they added. Professor Yusuf was the first Muslim in India to earn a doctorate on Rigveda, as per the statement.

Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College principal Shahid Ali Siddiqui told media that 25 doctors at the hospital there tested positive for the infection in the past fortnight. Currently, only three doctors are under treatment as others have recovered from the infection, he said. The head of the Medicine Department at the college, professor Shadaab Khan, had died from COVID-19 two days ago.

The college principal said the hospital is battling a shortage of medical oxygen and totally dependent on its three liquid oxygen plants. Since the past 12 days, the hospital has not received a single oxygen cylinder from outside despite continuous efforts, he said.

With inputs from PTI

Updated Date: May 09, 2021 19:38:09 IST

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