Gzb: Schools told to strictly follow norms or face action
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Ghaziabad in April has crossed the 200mark with the district recording 221 cases so far this month, surpassing March’s tally of 195 total cases. According to the data from the health department, Ghaziabad on Wednesday recorded 33 new cases, taking the tally of active cases to 139.
The district’s active cases include seven teachers and 42 students from 27 educational institutions who have been infected since April 10. On Wednesday, officials of the education department held meetings and issued directives for schools, including one stating that FIRS would be lodged against their administrations in case they violate Covid protocols.
“The district magistrate has directed physical verification of Covid protocols. If schools are found violating norms, action will be taken against their administrations for violation of Section 144 of the CRPC and proper legal action will be initiated,” said PK Dwivedi, district inspector of schools (DIOS).
The DIOS on Tuesday met with various representatives of private schools and said that there were no guidelines issued for the closure of schools in case any student/staff is infected.
“We have not received any guidelines for closure of schools in this regard. In case any student is infected, he/she shall be isolated and testing of other students/staff will be taken up. Physical classes will continue for others. The infected student will be provided with additional time to make up for the studies lost,” Dwivedi said.
Members of the parents’ association said that they were not called for the meeting held by the DIOS on Tuesday.
“There was no representative from the parents’ associations to air our views. We demand that the government intervene and issue guidelines to be followed in case any student is infected. Board exams for classes 10 and 12 are approaching and there is no direction issued as such in case a student is infected during the exams,” said Vivek Tyagi, spokesperson of the Ghaziabad Parents’ Association.
According to official records, the district in April has a positivity rate of 0.37% so far, against 0.14% in the month of March.
Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who test positive for the virus compared to all those who have been tested for it.
Officials of the health department, meanwhile, said that cases have increased gradually, and most patients are in the age group 20-40 years.
“This population moves around for jobs and other works. However, our focus is on children and teachers in schools. The severity of infection is still less and very mild. The samples of all positive cases are regularly being sent for genome sequencing but test reports are awaited,” said Dr Sunil Tyagi, additional chief medical officer.
Genome sequencing is used to determine which variant of Covid the patient has contracted. The new XE variant of coronavirus is already leading to a rise in cases in Gujarat and some other states, health officials said.
Health experts said that the number of cases may rise in the coming weeks but the severity will be less.
“The present cases are not severe and it is likely that the same trend will continue. School students are getting infected as many are not vaccinated. They must take the jab at the earliest,” said Dr VB Jindal, former president of the Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad chapter).
If schools are found violating norms, action will be taken against their administrations for violation of Section 144 of the CRPC.
P K DWIVEDI, district inspector of schools, Ghaziabad