Reopening of schools: Niti Ayog's Dr VK Paul has to say this

Amid warnings from public health experts about a third wave of Covid-19, which according to them should hit the country soon, the question over reopening of schools has risen again and again.

NITI Aayog's Dr VK Paul answered questions on reopening of schools with experts predicting that the third wave is expected to affect children in large numbers.

"A lot of things need to be considered while deciding on reopening schools. This is a question that keeps coming up," he told reporters, reported NDTV.

"As vaccination coverage widens, teachers get vaccinated, we change habits and implement social distancing in everyday lives... there should come a time when this can happen."

"But we should also remember that in many countries schools reopened, then outbreaks were reported and they had to shut them down again. We don't want to put our children and teachers in that situation unless we have more confidence that the pandemic won't harm us. Discussion on reopening of schools remains a part of the larger discourse but information that sero prevalence remain equal among children will be useful data," he further added, suggesting that more data need to be considered, the report stated.

On Friday, the government said, studies have revealed that the risk of hospitalisation due to COVID-19 lowers by 70-80 per cent for a fully-vaccinated person.

AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria on Saturday said that the third wave could hit India in the next six-eight weeks, NDTV reported.