'Kids can deal with virus better, open primary schools'

States should consider reopening primary schools but political, religious and public congregations should be avoided, the Centre said on Tuesday as it released India’s fourth sero survey.At a time when several states are reopening schools for senior classes from 9 to 12, the Centre said it would be better to reopen primary schools as younger children are known to handle viral infections better than adults.“Young children have lower number of ace receptors, to which the virus attaches itself and infects the body. Antibodies seen in our sero survey in very young children is almost similar to adults,” Indian Council of Medical Research director general Balram Bhargava said in New Delhi on Tuesday.The Centre said that Scandinavian countries did not shut down their primary schools during the pandemic. “Once districts start reopening schools, it would be wise to open primary schools before secondary schools. But before we reopen schools, we should ensure teachers, support staff, drivers are all vaccinated,” Bhargava said. The education ministry has so far left the decision to state governments depending on local Covid-19 scenario. With ICMR’s fresh input on primary schools, fresh assessments will have to be undertaken.Experts, however, have sounded a note of caution on post-Covid-19 complications in children and not the severity of disease. Consultant paediatrician of Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, Srinivas Midivelly, told ET: “The problem with primary school children will be that they won’t get affected with acute disease but there could be complications like Multi Systemic Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). This age group of children, once they go to school and get infected, may carry the disease home and can spread to adults. So, the debate about whether it is better to start primary schools rather than secondary isn’t something that can be put to an exact science.”Dr Giridhara Babu, professor and head (Life course epidemiology), Public Health Foundation of India, said, “The relatively good news (in the sero survey) is that children seem to have been infected to the extent of 57% and there may not be a greater burden of severity among the age group. However, we should be careful in the graded opening of schools by ensuring that teachers, drivers, parents and school attendants are vaccinated. I am more worried about post-Covid MIS-C than the severity of infections in children. The governments should step up surveillance for monitoring the sequelae of the infection before slow and planned opening.” India’s fourth sero survey has revealed that two-thirds of the population has antibodies against Sars-Cov-2. However, the Centre clearly state that one-thirds of population – or 40 crore – still remain vulnerable to infection. “We should avoid societal, public, religious and political congregations,” said Bhargava. The directive comes with elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur slated for early 2022.

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