Seven kids test Covid positive in two Ghaziabad schools

According to the CoWin portal figures, Ghaziabad district administered 6,084,878 doses till Monday evening and these include 3,296,549 first doses, 2,717,358 second doses and 70,971 precautionary doses

Two city schools were shut after seven students were found infected with Covid-19, health department officials said on Monday. The officials said a school in Indirapuram reported two positive cases, while five children were found positive at another school in Vaishali.

The officials of the school in Indirapuram said that two children were found infected with Covid-19 and they have decided to suspend all offline classes for at least a week. (Sunil Ghosh/ HT)

The officials of the school in Indirapuram said that two children were found infected with Covid-19 and they have decided to suspend all offline classes for at least a week, while officials of the Vaishali school also confirmed that five children from class 6 have tested positive.

“The children are students of class 6-A and we have suspended offline classes. Physical classes will only resume on Wednesday. The health department is conducting tests of our school staff and children. We are sanitising the school campus and the school buses, besides taking other precautionary measures,” an official from the Vaishali school said.

The officials of the health department said that they are trying to access the records of the students of the Vaishali and confirmed that a total of seven children from the two schools have tested Covid-19 positive.

“We have no records of the infected students available on our portal and our teams are in touch with the school authorities for more details. The two schools have shut physical classes. Our teams have put up camps for testing of children and staff for the next three days and if needed, we will extend the duration of these camps,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, district surveillance officer.

Sources said that one of the infected students of the Indirapuram school is a resident of Greater Noida, while the other is a resident of a housing society in Indirapuram itself.

Meanwhile, members of the parents’ association have raised concerns over children testing positive.

“Though the number of Covid-19 cases have reduced substantially, there is still a need for schools to follow preventive measures and the officials from the education department must conduct surprise inspections to check if schools are complying with Covid protocols. It could also be a case that children may have got the infection from outside. But infection can spread rapidly in physical classes,” said Vivek Tyagi, a spokesperson from Ghaziabad parents’ association.

The health experts said that the vaccination drive for children must be expedited.

“Parents must expedite the vaccination of their wards. Further, all Covid protocols and guidelines need to be observed in schools as well,” said Dr Ashish Aggarwal, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Ghaziabad chapter.

The Uttar Pradesh government directed the closure of all schools from January 16 to 23 due to a sudden spike in Covid cases during the third wave of the pandemic. Later, the closure was extended till February 6.

According to the CoWin portal figures, Ghaziabad district administered 6,084,878 doses till Monday evening and these include 3,296,549 first doses, 2,717,358 second doses and 70,971 precautionary doses.

So far, 68,815 doses have been administered to children in the 12-15 age group, while 385,815 doses have been given to children in the 15-18 age group across the district.