COVID-19: Govt issues SOP for partial reopening of schools from September 21

As per the guidelines, all students who wish to visit their schools will have to get written consent from their parents or guardians.

Moneycontrol News

September 13, 2020 / 12:57 IST

The Union Health Ministry on September 8 released guidelines for reopening schools for classes 9 to 12 on a voluntary basis from September 21. The decision was taken to help students seek guidance from their teachers.

The statement released by the ministry also mentions various precautionary measures to be adopted along with specific steps to be taken by the schools.

Precautionary measures mentioned in the directive include basic preventive steps that are to be followed to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. These include:

>>Physical distancing of at least 6 feet to be followed as far as feasible.

>>Use of face covers/masks to be made mandatory.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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