PUDUCHERRY: Sixteen children aged between one to eight years have tested positive for Covid in the last two weeks and are undergoing treatment in the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Research Institute (IGMCRI), Director, Health and Family Welfare, Dr S Mohan Kumar said. While 12 are aged between one and five years, four are over five years, he said.
Besides, another five newborns to Covid positive mothers have been admitted. Of them, one newborn has tested negative, while the test results of four are awaited, said Dr Mohan Kumar. Hospital sources said that all the children are stable and on supportive therapy only.
In the first and second wave of Covid, children as well as newborns were affected, but those were only a few cases. The children both in hospitals and home isolation recovered.
JIPMER too has been treating Covid-19 positive children. Often children come for another illness and are found to be Covid positive, JIPMER sources said.
Meanwhile, Puducherry reported 103 fresh cases and one death from Covid. The number of active cases is 1307, of which 257 are being treated in hospitals. The test positivity rate is 1.62 percent, while the fatality rate is 1.48 percent. The recovery rate is 97.42 percent.
So far, 1,19,405 persons have been infected by Covid, of which 1,16,325 have recovered and 1773 died.
A total of 6,20,708 persons have been vaccinated including the second dose.
LG directs health officials to closely monitor Covid infection in children
Expressing concern that 16 children in Puducherry have been affected by Covid, Lt Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan said that the situation should be closely monitored, while parents should keep their children at home and disallow outsiders inside.
“Every minute we have to act carefully and cautiously,” she said. Even though Covid is under control, everyone should be aware that a third wave could strike at any time, she told health officials at the weekly Covid review meeting at Raj Nivas on Thursday.
The vaccinations are progressing well, said the LG. However, it is important to intensify them, she added.
Parents should ensure that they avoid taking children outside and inviting relatives home, said the LG. All pediatricians and general practitioners should closely monitor children for infections. Special facilities created for treatment of children have saved them from danger, she said.
Everyone must work together to control the outbreak, she said and appealed to people to follow Covid prevention measures by realising that the relaxations have been announced in order to avoid economic harm.