BHUBANESWAR : With 242 children in the 0-18 age group testing positive in the last couple of days, the State government has started monitoring Covid-19 cases among the paediatric population of the State ahead of a possible third wave. In the last 48 hours, around 12.5 per cent of the cases detected in the State were in the age group of 0-18.
The State recorded 1,058 new cases including 138 children on Sunday and 868 including 104 children on Monday. The daily caseload dropped below 1,000, the lowest in a single day in the last four months. On August 9, 886 new infections were reported. Additional Chief Secretary of Health PK Mohapatra said,
“Mapping of Covid among children will help us adopt a pin-pointed and focused approach to fight the virus. Though initial studies have indicated that most of the children have the potential to withstand the disease, we should remain prepared to break the chain and prevent the next wave,” he said.
Director of Medical Education and Training Dr CBK Mohanty said the probability of children getting affected is more as the population below 18 years has not yet been inoculated. “Infected children often go undetected as they are mostly asymptomatic. The mapping will help us get the real picture. As schools are going to open, parents and school teachers have a major role to play in preventing the spread of infection by following Covid appropriate behaviour,” he added.
Among the fresh Covid cases, Khurda reported the highest of 256 followed by Cuttack (154) and Balasore (52). Sonepur, Nabarangpur and Koraput did not report any case in the last 24 hours. The test positivity rate was 1.4 pc for 62,119 tests conducted in the last 24 hours. But there is no let up in fatalities as the State reported 66 deaths.