Prioritising safety amidst COVID-19 and its new variant Omicron increasingly rapidly in number, the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has created a bio-bubble for the convocation ceremony. As per the officials of IIT Kanpur, the convocation will be held in a hybrid mode on Tuesday, December 28. Last year, the convocation ceremony was held virtually.  

On this occasion, PM Narendra Modi will be addressing the students as the chief guest. Meanwhile, UP governor, Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be guests of honour. Around 1,723 students will receive their degree and 80 prizes and medals will be given. As many as 21 students will be given the Outstanding PhD Thesis Award. 

Girish Pant, IIT- Kanpur Spokesperson, said, "Bio-bubble is a concept that was developed in the field of sports after the COVID pandemic. Here, a bio-secure environment is created for people to minimise the risk and transformation of viruses. Earlier, it was introduced only in cricket but was later spread across different sectors including education. We are the first among all the higher education institutes in India to introduce a concept of bio-bubble during convocation," stated a report from Hindustan Times. 

Besides this, arrangements were done to conduct RT-PCR tests for all the attendees on the institute campus on December 27 itself. A separate rapid antigen test will be followed on the convocation day as well before the event begins.