Chandigarh: Keeping in view of the re-opening of schools after the second wave of SARS-CoV-2, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Thursday directed all the Civil Surgeons to ensure Corona Surveillance in Schools as per SOPs recommended by the committee of experts. The Health Minister said that to prevent any major outbreak of COVID-19 among children in schools, instructions have been issued to all the Civil Surgeons to prepare a micro-plan that provides data of suspected cases and COVID tests to be conducted in their respective districts.
Sidhu said that it is the responsibility of schools management to educate their teachers, staff and students on COVID-19 prevention measures. He said that schools must develop a schedule for daily cleaning and disinfection of the school environment, facilities and frequently touched surfaces, and ensure availability of hand hygiene.
He said that schools should enforce the policy of staying home if unwell and also ensure students or staffs who have been in contact with a COVID-19 case to stay home for 14 days. However, a physical distancing of at least 6 feet between individuals can be maintained by spacing of desks, staging recesses, breaks and lunch breaks; limiting the mixing of classes and of age groups; considering smaller classes or alternating attendance schedules, and ensuring good ventilation in classrooms, frequent hand and respiratory hygiene, and environmental cleaning measures should be in place to limit exposure.

Minister clarified that class must be suspended and quarantined for 14 days if one Corona case is confirmed and school must be suspended for 14 days if two or more than two cases are detected. He said that if one-third of the schools in a city or town or block are closed then all schools in that geography must be closed.Referring to the necessary prevention measures, Mr. Sidhu said that students and staff should be screened by non-contact thermometers at entry and exit points on routine basis and syndromic surveillance must be carried out for Influenza like illness to detect suspected COVID-19 cases.