[ Nellie N Manpoong ]
ITANAGAR, 4 Oct: At least 139 cases of Covid-19 have been detected among students, teachers and staffs in five schools with boarding facility across the state since schools reopened in September.
These are VKV Tafragam in Lohit district (39 cases), Blue Pine English Residential School in Lower Subansiri (11 cases), Ramakrishna Mission School (RKMS) Narottam Nagar in Tirap (33 cases), the Tawang Public School, Lemberdung (20 cases), and Manjushree School, Tawang (36 cases) in Tawang district.
Of these, there were 108 active cases in VKV Tafragam, RKMS Narottam Nagar and Manjushree School till 2 October.
Tirap Deputy Commissioner Taro Mize informed that, when the RKMS opened, a few students had complained of fever and they were taken to the hospital by the school authorities and about four to five students were found to be positive for Covid-19. During contact tracing, 24 more students as well as teaching staffers were detected with the virus but were asymptomatic.
On receiving the news, the DC instructed the Deomali ADC to isolate the schoolchildren.
“Since the school has a large campus with considerable distance between the hostels, the school authorities were able to isolate the affected children appropriately,” the DC said.
He informed that two students who had tested positive on 28 September were the only two left to be discharged.
“On Sunday evening they were taken back home by their parents after giving an undertaking,” he said, adding: “At the moment, there are no Covid positive cases in the RKMS campus. All are asymptomatic and have been discharged after 10 days of mandatory isolation.”
Concerned about her children missing out on their academic as well as co-curricular activities due to the extended shutdown of schools, a working parent said, “We cannot keep them (the children) at home forever. Staying at home has affected their intellectual growth and they have lost touch with their books.”
Another parent said that she would prefer having her child attend proper physical classes, but also said that if the school detects Covid positive cases, she would make her son stay at home for a few days.
An eight-year-old boy said that he wears his mask throughout the day in school. However, he said that there is no strict implementation of physical distancing among the students.
Officials of the health department said that “students who are testing positive (for Covid-19) are isolated from the rest. Some parents had requested/pressed the school authority to release their child for home isolation, but this was done only after giving undertaking.”
“The medical teams and district health authorities are also monitoring and providing treatment as per requirements,” the health department said.
On the measures being taken to tackle the spread of Covid-19 in schools, the education secretary said, “Covid-related SOPs of the health department and containment measures are being followed.”
While the doctors here have not received official communication regarding the possibility of launching a vaccine for children, Reuters and other agencies reported that Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Cadila) is set to launch the three-dose ZyCoV-D vaccine for children aged between 12 and 18 years in India soon.
ZyCoV-D is the world’s first DNA-based needle-free Covid-19 vaccine, and received emergency authorization from the Drug Controller General of India in August. The vaccine is currently the only one approved for children in India, and will first focus on children with comorbidity. Experts said that the efficacy of ZyCoV-D is 67 percent, compared to mRNA vaccines.
Trials are also on for the Covovax Covid-19 vaccine of the Serum Institute of India for children between ages 7 and 11.
Earlier, the campuses of RKMS Narottam Nagar in Tirap and VKV Tafragam in Lohit were declared as containment zones after positive cases of Covid-19 were detected among the children and staffers of the schools on 20 and 29 September.
The education department on 10 September allowed schools (from Class 1 to 8), such as residential schools, hostels and coaching institutions, to reopen from 13 September onwards, after nearly two years, for physical classes. The rest of the private and government schools in the state reopened for Class 1-8 from 20 September. Classes were being held either in two shifts or on alternate days to minimize crowding.
Children, as well as teachers, had expressed enthusiasm about going back to school after parents signed consent letters.
The school authorities had been strictly instructed by the departments concerned to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, including maintaining distance, wearing masks and frequent hand sanitizing in the class.
