2 weeks after reopening schools no spike in Covid cases among kids in Mumbai: BMC

Over two weeks after the reopening of schools in the city, no spike has been reported in the number of Covid-19 cases among children. However, the city has recorded a marginal drop in the number of cases. According to the data, between September 14 and 30, 1,024 cases were reported in the 0-19 age group that went down to 732 cases between October 1 and 17.

Over two weeks after the reopening of schools in the city, no spike has been reported in the number of Covid-19 cases among children. However, the city has recorded a marginal drop in the number of cases. According to the data, between September 14 and 30, 1,024 cases were reported in the 0-19 age group that went down to 732 cases between October 1 and 17.

Over two weeks after the reopening of schools in the city, no spike has been reported in the number of Covid-19 cases among children. However, the city has recorded a marginal drop in the number of cases. According to the data, between September 14 and 30, 1,024 cases were reported in the 0-19 age group that went down to 732 cases between October 1 and 17. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has, starting October 4, allowed the reopening of schools for Class 8 to 12. Further, starting from today, colleges also have been allowed to remain open. However, colleges have been asked to have lectures in staggered time format, and students and staff members have been asked to remain vaccinated.

However, in the case of those below the age of 18 years, a vaccine is yet to roll out. As of October 17, 50,246 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the 0 to 19 age group, of which 14,090 cases are in the 0 to 9 age group, followed by 36,156 in the 10 to 19 age group.

In terms of fatality, the 0 to 9 age group has reported 19 deaths till now followed by 41 in the 10 to 19 years of age group.

Further, a fall has been reported in other age groups also. According to the data, in the age group of 20 to 29, 1,005 cases were reported between October 1 to 17. In the same age group, between September 14 and 30, 1,375 cases were reported.

In the age group of 30 to 39, during the same period cases went down from 1,925 to 1,210. In the age group of 40 to 49, cases went down from 1,627 to 1,136. Similarly, in age groups above 50 years of age also went down from 3,926 cases to 3,021 cases.

According to BMC officials, there is no spike reported yet, but it will be too early to conclude that there will not be any spike in the case of children or adults. Earlier, in the last week of June, the BMC’s sero survey on children had revealed that more than 50% of the paediatric populace in Mumbai had antibodies against Covid-19. The survey among the 1-18 years age group was to gauge the prevalence of the virus among the young population. The overall sero positivity rate is 51.18%.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner of the BMC said, “Over two weeks have passed but no spike is reported when it comes to Covid-19 cases in children. It could be due to high level of antibodies present, but at the same time we are ready to vaccinate around three million children. Our current strength of vaccinated centres will be sufficient to roll out vaccination for children once the vaccines are made available by the government.”

Apart from the reopening of schools and colleges, the BMC has also given several other relaxation in the month of October including reopening of religious places, theatres, auditoriums followed by increasing operational hours for shops and restaurants. Owing to these relaxations, the BMC has maintained that the period till November 20, 2021, will remain crucial.

Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the Covid-19 task force, Maharashtra said, “In general, across all age groups including those of children, the cases are on the decline. This is partially maybe because we do not have any new variant of concern. Also, a significant number of children already have Covid-19 antibodies. Hence, we should wait for proper vaccines for children to be rolled out.”

Dr Joshi added, “For adults, the vaccination is already going on at a good pace. Despite these factors, we will need to be careful and cautious. In this, unvaccinated and partially vaccinated citizens have to be more careful.”

On Monday, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar had said that the BMC is ready to vaccinate over three million population of children. However, it is awaiting vaccine and its guidelines to be rolled out by the Central government.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday 314 cases were reported followed by four deaths taking the case tally to 752,344 and toll to 16,188. The city’s recovery rate is 96% with 728,138 recoveries followed by fatality rate being 2.15%. There are 5,521 active cases in the city. On Tuesday, 57,660 citizens were vaccinated. In the city, 13,572,771 doses have been administered so far and 4,923,773 citizens are fully vaccinated.