The Ministry of Public Health has advised schools to follow Covid-19 prevention guidelines for on-site classes and stated that they will not issue a school closure order unless there is a risk of Covid clusters.
According to Department of Health deputy director-general Dr. Sarawut Boonsuk, Thailand has vaccinated 4.5 million children between the ages of 12 and 18, or 88.4 percent of the approximately 5 million youngsters in this age group. Approximately 4.09 million children, or 79.6 percent of this age group, had received the second dose. Meanwhile, children aged 5 to 11 will receive their vaccination starting at the end of January.
In regards to Covid-19 cases in schools, the deputy director-general stated that the number of infections among children aged 13 to 19 has increased more than children of other ages from January 1, 2022. From November 2021 to January 18, 2022, there was one patient under the age of 18 who died as a result of Covid-19, indicating a low mortality rate among children.
The deputy director-general said that the Ministry has issued guidelines for schools to follow in case there’s a covid infection. If one or two confirmed cases were discovered in a classroom, the ministry would order the school to close the class for three days to do a complete clean-up. If cases are discovered in more than one class then the school must close the rooms for the entire grade for three days to clean the rooms. He added that no closure order would be issued for that school until there is a risk that the infections could pose as a new covid cluster, which will be reviewed by the Provincial Communicable Disease Committee.
Dr. Sarawut recommended that schools temporarily halt group activities and allow students in high-risk groups to take online lessons. He asked families to offer a safe environment for their children by often cleaning up the house, firmly adhering to prevention measures when they need to go outside, and for unvaccinated children and adults to receive vaccinations provided by the ministry of public health. (NNT)
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