New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Friday reiterated that all State governments should reopen schools claiming that students are not the major carriers of the Covid-19 virus. The ICMR further said that spike of Covid cases in many other countries could be a concern for India.
Talking to ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview, Dr Samiran Panda, senior scientist and head of epidemiology and communicable disease division at the ICMR, said that children are not the major drivers of the pandemic since children handle virus infection much better.
"Reopening of schools is a must now and there should not be any hesitation. School closure was a rational step during the first wave of the pandemic, following the second wave when schools were still closed but children got infected...so it was found that there was no connection between reopening of schools and children getting infected," said Dr Panda.
The statement given by Dr Panda assumes much significance following the fact that many district administrations have not taken decision to reopen schools after parents of the school children opposed the same.
On the other hand, many state governments have already reopened schools with SOPs in place.
"In the fourth national Sero survey it was found that more than 50 percent of the children were infected in spite of the fact that there schools were closed," said Dr Panda.
"There was presence of antibodies in children. So school reopening should not be guided by this anxiety that if we send children to schools, they will be infected. In fact, children get infected even without going to school," added Dr Panda.
The priority of the country should be reopening of schools and parents, school teacher and support staff should get their vaccination done, he said.
Referring to the Covid19 vaccines, Dr Panda said that both the Indian vaccines are safe. He reiterated that vaccines do not prevent acquisition of infection.
Dr Panda clarified that there is no more SARS-CoV-2 variations found in India. "Delta variant is still circulating and it is predominant variant. Delta plus was of course identified but no more new variant has come into place which can be considered as a variant of concern," said Dr Panda.
Asserting that Covid19 is a heterogeneous epidemic, Dr Panda said progression of the epidemic varies in different States. "The local data should be examined for local level actions in terms of decision making and restrictive measures," he said.
When asked about any possible third wave, Dr Panda said that most of the States which witnessed severe second wave, "the situation may not turn worse as many people have already infected and got immunity."
"The risk persists to those States which did witness severe second wave and did not ramp up their vaccination...there are susceptible population and thus there is a risk," said Dr Panda.
He said that due to the ongoing festive season and population density, there could be an upsurge in Covid cases which can be marked as a third wave.
Dr Panda further cautioned that there should be a strong surveillance by the Indian SARS-CoV-2-Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) following the fact a few countries have started witnessing a spike in Covid cases.
"The whole world is a global village and India is a part of it. If things are going wrong and there is an upsurge in cases, we may have difficult situation because we have flights coming from abroad. And if the surveillance does not happen and if there is a new variant which can escape the immunity with more transmission efficiency, there is a major threat looming large for India," said Dr Panda.
