Noida: Health dept told to ensure children too are tested for Covid

In yet another step towards preparations for the possible third wave of Covid-19, which experts say is likely to affect children more than adults, the Uttar Pradesh health department has directed the Gautam Budh Nagar administration to ensure 15% of the total coronavirus tests being carried out across the district are of children, said officials on Monday

In yet another step towards preparations for the possible third wave of Covid-19, which experts say is likely to affect children more than adults, the Uttar Pradesh health department has directed the Gautam Budh Nagar administration to ensure 15% of the total coronavirus tests being carried out across the district are of children, said officials on Monday.

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According to the Gautam Budh Nagar chief medical officer (CMO), Dr Sunil Kumar Sharma, the district has a daily target of conducting 4,000 RT-PCR tests and 5,250 antigen tests. “Officials of the district health department have been told to ensure that at least 15% of the total samples tested for Covid-19 should be of children in the 5-18 age group. To meet this purpose, testing is being done at the district hospital and all the community and primary health centres,” said Sharma.

Currently, the district is meeting 50% of the target set for conducting antigen tests per day and around 40% of the daily RT-PCR testing target.

Sharma said the department aims to increase testing in the coming days. “Currently, the number of tests being done in the district is at an optimal level considering the positivity rate (samples that return positive out of the total samples tested for Covid-19) is 0.16%. We aim to increase the number of tests as well as ramp up contact tracing and tracking in the district,” he said.

Another health department official said in rural areas, teams of accredited social health activists (ASHAs) and auxillary nurse midwives (ANMs) are going door-to-door to increase awareness regarding Covid-19 protocols and importance of maintaining social distancing.

Talking about preparedness for the new variant of Covid-19, Dr Sharma said, “Delta or Delta plus variant of Covid-19 does not matter as long as we are prepared for the surge in cases”.

He added,”As per our estimates, only 5% of Covid affected children need admission. So, for every 1,000 Covid cases ,about 120 will be in age group of 0 to 18 years and only six children will need admission to hospitals. We are prepared for the same, and even more, if needed.”