According to official estimates, sixty-nine percent of adolescents in government and aided schools under the Department of General Education in Ernakulam have been given the COVID-19 vaccine.
Muvattupuzha educational sub-district tops the chart with 82% coverage, followed by Kothamangalam (80.3%). Ernakulam and Aluva sub-districts have achieved 78% coverage each.
About 2.2% of adolescents in government and aided schools in the district could not get the first dose because they got infected at the time of taking the first dose. The highest number of children in this category were in Aluva, with 1,058 students, followed by Ernakulam (668); Muvattupuzha (508), and Kothamangalam (370).
Ernakulam Deputy Director of Education Honey G Alexander said efforts have been intensified to increase coverage among the target group. He said that under this process, vaccination camps were started in schools in collaboration with the health department.
There are about 1.19 lakh students in classes between 9 and 12 in government and aided institutions in the district. Of this, 94,270 had received the first dose. As per official records, around 42,012 belonged to the high school section, while the figure stood at 52,258 in the higher secondary/vocational higher secondary category.
Officials said there are 21 school-based COVID-19 clusters in the district. The offline session in these schools was immediately suspended and the learning process was shifted online.
District Collector Zafar Malik said in a letter that special immunization camps for adolescents would be set up in the district to increase the vaccination coverage among adolescents in the age group of 15-18. He said that the cooperation of residents’ associations and voluntary organizations should be sought for organizing more such camps.
9,331 new cases
Ernakulam recorded 9,331 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
About 6,620 people were infected by contact. The source of infection was not confirmed in 2,677 cases.
According to an official communication, 33 health workers were among the infected.
A total of 75,133 persons are in home isolation. The number of active cases in the district till Tuesday was 71,411.
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