Kerala’s schools turn Covid super-spreaders
In yet another setback to Kerala’s credibility as an effective fighter of Covid-19, for which it had won global acclaim, the state’s schools are becoming breeding grounds of coronavirus. Ever since the state’s schools reopened on January 1 for class 10 and class 12 students, following the decision by a high-power committee under chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, some schools have been reporting entire classes going down with Covid-19.
After two such dramatic instances over the past couple of days, in which 148 students and 37 teachers of the Maranchery school and 42 students and 42 teachers of the Vanneri HSS in Malappuram having tested positive, it emerged on Tuesday many of those affected had got the virus from a private tuition centre in the district, making it a clear super-spreader. The tuition centre has since been ordered closed.
The infection in the Maranchery school was detected when one student with Covid symptoms tested positive. When the test was done on the other students and teachers, nearly all of them were found to be already carrying the virus.
In the wake of the scare, some more schools in the district have been closed until further orders. It was decided by a meeting chaired by the district collector and attended by health officials that all the students and teachers in another six nearby schools must be made to undergo the Covid test.
Need to probe if mutant strain is circulating: Guleria
At a time when the new cases of Covid-19 have been manifesting a downward trend nationally, its unabated transmission in two Indian states -- Kerala and Maharashtra -- have become a cause of worry. The data of last one week by the Union Health Ministry showed that both the states account for 71 per cent of the fresh caseload of the week with Kerala making up almost half of the total.
Of the total 80,536 new cases reported in the duration, Kerala and Maharashtra accounted for 56,932 whereas the southern state logged 39,260 cases (49%) alone.
Delhi AIIMS Dr Randeep Guleria Director evoked the possibility of an undetected mutant strain of Sars-CoV-2 circulating in the two states.
"We will have to investigate whether any mutant strain of coronavirus is under circulation in the state which is causing spurt in the daily infection," he told IANS.
‘No case of South Africa variant in India'’
No case of South African variant of COVID-19 virus has been found in the country so far, said NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul on Tuesday. "South Africa variant of COVID19 is under the watch. It has come forward that this variant spreads faster. As of yesterday, this particular variant is not in the country," Dr Paul told a press conference.
19 deaths not causally related to vaccination reported
25 hospitalisations, which is 0.0005% of the total people who received vaccine jabs, and 19 deaths not causally related to the vaccination presently have been reported till February 4, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.