Delhi Government issues SOPs for schools to curb Covid-19 infection

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government today issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to prevent spread of Covid-19 infection in schools. Vaccination of students, teaching, non-teaching staff; wearing of masks; sanitization of school premises; use of all entry and exit gates; guiding students to avoid sharing lunch, notebooks; availability of quarantine rooms are some of the general guidelines issued by the government to be strictly followed by schools.

Along with general guidelines, the government has also issued daily symptoms check guidelines, health and safety guidelines, physical distancing guidelines, campus guest policy and awareness drive.

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The government has listed down symptoms to look for such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, loss of taste and smell, sore throat, nausea etc. “If a student or staff member displays any of the above symptoms whilst at the school, they should be moved away from the other people and into an outdoor or well ventilated space or quarantine room,” said the official notification from the government.

The teachers will daily ask students about covid related symptoms at the time of morning attendance. The government has also made thermal scanning and hand sanitization mandatory at entrance gates. It has asked schools to advise parents to not send their children to school if found with Covid symptoms.

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While directing school authorities to ensure maintenance of physical distancing, the government asked to discourage guest visits in schools.

Further, the Delhi government asked schools to display posters or standees on preventive measures about Covid-19 at classrooms, washrooms, parking, entry, exit of schools.

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The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), in its meeting on Wednesday, decided to come up with a separate SOP for schools in consultation with experts. During the crucial meeting chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, the Covid situation in Delhi was reviewed.

Schools across Delhi-NCR have sprung into action following a spike in Covid cases and are taking various measures, including frequent sanitisation, to restrict the spread of the virus to a minimum and thus avoid shutdown of the campus. Reports of infections from schools have triggered concerns weeks after they opened for offline classes following a two-year gap due to the pandemic.