Over 23k students below 12 infected with Covid-19 this year - minister

 

A total of 23,739 students below the age of 12 years have been infected with Covid-19 so far this year, according to Health Minister Dr Adham Baba.

In comparison, he said 8,369 such cases were reported in the entirety of 2020.

"This data shows how easy it is for a case to be transmitted at school as a result of intermingling," he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Adham (above) said all district health offices had been instructed to conduct targeted screening at schools, while schools have been instructed that students with any Covid-19 symptoms such as fever, coughs, and sore throat should not come to school.

Likewise, students should not come to school if their parents or any household members show Covid-19 symptoms.

"This is important because there are cases originating from (students') families. The student has no symptoms but spreads the disease at school.

"For those under quarantine or home surveillance order, their children cannot come to school. Those waiting for Covid-19 test results as persons under surveillance should not send their children to school either," he said.

Parents can write a letter to the school to excuse their children from class if there are symptoms.

As for teachers, Adham said he has proposed to Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali and Senior Education Minister Radzi Jidin to issue a circular to address teachers' concerns that they would be considered absent without leave if they have Covid-19 symptoms but no documentation to show for it.

He proposed that teachers notify the District Health Office, which would issue a letter confirming that they have Covid-19 symptoms while testing and other measures take place over the next few days.

"The Health Ministry is prepared to issue verification letters, but on the condition this is not abused," he said.

Meanwhile, Radzi reportedly said the Education Ministry would not punish students for skipping school over their parent's Covid-19 concerns, provided the school is informed in advance.

"We have never penalised students who didn’t want to go to school if they felt unsafe to do so. But parents must write a letter to inform and give a proper reason, we (school) must have proper recordings," Bernama quoted him as saying.

For the record, Covid-19 patients are most infectious in the few days just before symptoms appear, meaning that patients can be highly infectious even if they have yet to show symptoms.

Some cases were caused by people who never developed any Covid-19 symptoms, and a study published in January estimates this accounts for 24 percent of all Covid-19 infections.

For children, they are less likely than adults to develop Covid-19 symptoms, and severe illnesses among children are rarer still.

However, children may develop a rare but serious condition known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) two to five weeks after a Covid-19 infection.

A recent study of 1,733 US children hospitalised for MIS-C found that 75 percent did not experience Covid-19 symptoms during their initial infection, despite later developing MIS-C symptoms severe enough to require hospital admission.

Of the 1,733 children, 1,003 cases (58.2 percent) needed treatment in intensive care units, and death in 24 cases (1.4 percent).

Commonly reported MIS-C symptoms amongst children hospitalised for the condition include abdominal pain (66.5 percent) and vomiting (64.3 percent).

Many also experienced low blood pressure, shock, and a range of serious heart problems.

The incidence is estimated to be 2.1 cases per 100,000 children, although teenagers appear to be less susceptible compared to younger children. - Mkini