Allaying parents’ fears about opening of schools, an official of Ministry of Public Health has said that parents should not be afraid of schools, because most of the COVID-19 cases that have been recorded are due to family gatherings.
The official further said that for preventing overcrowding and following health precautionary measures applied in all schools, parents should bring their children to schools early. “All the administrative staff and teachers have been trained on how to deal with suspected cases of coronavirus and how to act in such cases. There are also special isolation rooms for assessment of such cases,” said Dr. Soha Al Bayat, Head of Vaccination Department at the Ministry of Public Health.
Speaking to a local TV channel, she said: “Also, there is continuous follow-up and contact with the concerned authorities, as a committee has been formed that includes the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Ministry of Interior to follow up suspected cases and to alert the school and its staff. Such suspected cases will not be allowed to enter the school unless a medical test is conducted to know health status.”
Regarding the parents fears on sending their children to schools, Al Bayat said that parents should not be afraid of schools, because most of the coronavirus cases that have been recorded are due to family gatherings. Therefore, she said, it is better to warn children about gatherings in public places or with other families without taking the precautionary measures.
“Parents must adhere to the precautionary measures not only at schools but also at home,” she affirmed. Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Chair of the National Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Hamad Medical Corporation had recently said that the most infected cases with coronavirus during the last period were found within the same family, which often came from one of its members.
The schools after reopening are applying a number of precautionary rules to avoid the spread of coronavirus as it is forbidden for students to gather outside or inside the school building, as well as the necessity to report about any symptoms, whether high temperature or other symptoms. Likewise, wearing masks and measuring the temperature before entering the school, and taking into account the distance between each student are compulsory.
