India Covid Dispatch: Experts say it's time to send kids back to schools

Flu shot may protect against severe Covid effects, long-lasting Covid symptoms rare in children and other stories from around the country on the fight against the pandemic

Over 44,500 fresh cases reported

India reported 44,643 fresh coronavirus infections on Friday, taking the cumulative caseload to 31.8 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 464 more deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 426,754. The active caseload is at 414,159, while the total recoveries have surged to 31 million. As many as 495 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 5.7 million were given on Thursday. Read more

Experts say it’s high time we send kids back to schools

Over a year after schools turned virtual to check the spread of Covid, experts say there are many adverse effects from keeping children at home, which include health problems, a report in ThePrint said. Dr Prabhat Maheshwari, chief, neonatal & paediatric critical care, Artemis Hospital, Gurugram, told ThePrint that they were already seeing the effects — obesity, psychological trauma and loss of confidence. “Children anyway have natural immunity against several diseases … the serosurvey too shows that almost 60 per cent of children have antibodies against Covid and if we have opened everything from malls, tourism and offices, then why deprive children of classroom learning?” he said. Read more

Tamil Nadu’s training thousands of nurses to handle kids with Covid as it preps for 3rd wave

While experts may have said there is no solid evidence to suggest a potential third wave could affect children more, Tamil Nadu is preparing for it regardless, a report in ThePrint said. The state has already started training thousands of nurses in resuscitating infants and administering them IV injections, and more importantly, what not to do. The training is being conducted on Zoom sessions and offline with dummies. “We don’t want any child to die at your hands,” said Dr Poovazhagi, from Chennai’s Institute of Child Health during one such training session, the report said. Read more

Flu shot may protect against severe effects of Covid, finds study

A new US study has found that the annual influenza vaccine may reduce the risk of stroke, sepsis, blood clots and several other severe effects in patients with Covid, PTI reported. The researchers also found that patients with Covid who had been vaccinated against the flu were significantly less likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit, the report said. Read more

Long-lasting Covid symptoms rare in children, finds Lancet study

A large UK study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal has found that most children who develop Covid symptoms recover after six days, and the number who experience symptoms beyond four weeks is low, PTI reported. The study provides the first detailed description of Covid illness in symptomatic school-aged children. “It is reassuring that the number of children experiencing long-lasting symptoms of COVID-19 symptoms is low. Nevertheless, a small number of children do experience long illness with COVID-19, and our study validates the experiences of these children and their families,” said the lead author of the study. Read more