Holiday declared for all schools in Puducherry, Karaikal as fever cases spike

Health Department sets up dedicated fever clinics to treat influenza patients, says Health Director

The government has declared a holiday for all schools in Puducherry and Karaikal for Classes I to VIII from Saturday till September 25, following a sharp spike in influenza cases among children in recent weeks.

The decision to declare a week’s holiday for government and private schools in these regions from Saturday to Sunday next came after Chief Minister N. Rangasamy and Education Minister A. Namassivayam approved a Health Department recommendation to declare holiday for schools for a short period as a precautionary step given the sharp increase in the incidence of fever cases among children in Puducherry and elsewhere. The Director of School Education said the holiday applied to students of LKG, UKG classes as well.

The Health Department had noted that in the past 10 days there is an estimated 50% spike in fever cases among children visiting various health institutions in Puducherry. Most of the children are reporting high grade fever with cough and cold. As a result, there is a substantive increase in the number of children visiting Out-Patient Departments in various hospitals and the number of inpatients in Rajiv Gandhi Government Women and Children Hospital.

This flu like illness spreads when children inhale droplets from infected persons or when they come into direct contact with mucous from patients. Hence, the spread is very high among children attending schools. Ideally, infected people must stay at home and maintain hand hygiene, use face mask and maintain social distancing to bring down this infection.

In these circumstances, the Health Department requested the government to close down schools for Classes I to VIII temporarily to help bring down flu cases in Puducherry/Karaikal.

Meanwhile, the Health Department has established dedicated fever clinics in government hospitals and PHCs across the Union Territory, following the sharp spike in influenza cases over the past couple of weeks.