Schools safe for kids, Telanagana government tells High Court

Hyderabad: Responding to the Telangana High Court's queries about the safety of children during the pandemic, the government has said it is taking all measurements to check the pandemic's spread. As many as 4,75, 943 teaching and non-teaching staff had been vaccinated by the end of September to ensure schooling will be safe, it said.

The government also stated that 256 paediatricians in the state were enlisted by the government to deal with any untoward incident with reference to possible Covid-19 spread among children.

The High Court had, several times, sought details from the government about the paediatric infrastructure available in the state in view of the anticipated third wave of Covid-19 that could specially target children.

The director of public health said in an affidavit before the court about the district-wise enlisting of paediatricians to deal with critical Covid situations in future. However, the affidavit did not have any mention about the beds available at the children's hospitals.

Earlier, government counsel told the court that there was no threat about the spread of the Coronavirus among students if schools reopened. But the counter filed before the court now was silent about the steps taken to manage the pandemic's spread in schools, if and when it happens. However, the public health director stated that in view of the upcoming festivals like Dasara, Diwali and Christmas, the department has ramped up the RTPCR tests by fixing the targets district-wise. He also said the Covid test positivity rate has dropped to less than one per 100 tests.

The affidavit also stated that 2,51, 87,253 vaccine doses have been administered in the state till the end of September. The targeted population for vaccination is 2,77, 67,000 in the state, of which 1,82,98,288 beneficiaries received the dose(s), among which 68,88, 965 received both doses.