Vijayapura: District In-charge Minister Shashikala Jolle said that considering the increasing cases of Covid among the children in the District, a decision on closing the schools would be taken within a couple of days.
Addressing presspersons after chairing a meeting with the Deputy Commissioner P. Sunil Kumar and other officials on Wednesday January 12, she said that the situation is now being evaluated on taking final call. “The officials of the Education Department are holding crucial meetings. The report would be submitted to the District Administration. Based on that the decision would be taken whether to order the closure of the schools or allow them to continue,” she said.
She however said that their primary target is to ensure that all the eligible students who are above 15 years of age get Covid vaccination. Claiming that already around 50% of the students have taken vaccines in the District, the Minister said that she has directed the officials to ensure jab to remaining students as early as possible.
Asserting that the though the district has been facing the third wave of Covid pandemic, she said that the intensity is mild as compared to the second wave. Of the 160 Covid positive cases reported since January 1 in the District, around 50 are aged between one and 18. “However the matter of relief is that none of the children are serious and all are showing mild symptoms of Covid. Couple of adult persons are on ventilators but they have other serious ailments too such as heart and kidney problem,” she said.
Jolle said that as a precautionary measure, the District Administration has made required preparations to deal with any eventualities arising out of Covid. She said that a ten-bed ventilator equipped paediatric unit is being set up at the District Government Hospital. The paediatric doctors are being deployed in all the Primary and Community Healthcare Centres of the District. The arrangements have also been made to supply enough oxygen in case of emergencies in the District as the District has around six oxygen plants, she said.
She said that the District has some 14 Government and 162 private hospitals. All the private hospitals have been directed to reserve at least 75% beds for Covid patients.
To a question, she said that vigil at all the check posts has been intensified and adequate staff has been deployed for checking.
Deputy Commissioner, P. Sunil Kumar, MLA Ramesh Bhusnur and Zilla Panchayat Chief Executice Officer Govind Reddy were present.
