LNJP MD warns 'If parents do not take vaccine, children at high covid risk'

New Delhi [India], April 21 (ANI): A four-month-old COVID-19 patient baby admitted to the hospital here is on oxygen support, if the parents do not take the vaccine, then their children are at risk, said the Medical Director of Lok Nayak Hospital, Dr Suresh Kumar.
Dr Kumar said that the group below 12 years is at higher risk since they have not been vaccinated yet while adding that we need to be more alert and aware. Corona is not over yet. Most of the young children, whose immunity is fine, despite being positive, are asymptomatic. Those who already have any disease, need admission to the hospital.
"A total of seven COVID-19 patients are admitted in LNJP at present, out of which five are adults and two are children. One child is seven-year-old and another is four-month-old. The four-month-old baby is on oxygen support, he is a bit sick. The father of this child has also been tested positive and is admitted here. If the parents have not taken the vaccine, it can cause infection to the children" he said.
He encouraged the government's new guidelines making masks mandatory and said that it was very much required. As the mandate was relaxed, people became careless about it. Even in the market or other congested areas, people were roaming without masks.
"The school have been closed for almost two years now, it cannot be closed anymore. Children's academic program is also very much important. All we need to do is follow the rules. If COVID preventive measures and guidelines are followed in schools properly and children wear masks, then there will definitely be infection control," said Dr Kumar.
He said that the rate of hospitalization is very low. 99 per cent of the beds are still vacant. If cases increase, the hospital will increase the number of beds.
"The COVID-19 positivity rate in Delhi has increased by five per cent. Yesterday more than one thousand cases have come. There are a total of 250 beds reserved for Corona in LNJP, out of which there is a pediatric ward of 50 beds. If there is a need, we will increase the number of beds, but now 99 per cent of the beds are vacant in the whole of Delhi, we have only seven patients out of 250," added Dr Kumar.
As per the recent data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday, India recorded 2,380 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, with the case positivity rate going up to 0.53 per cent. A total of 313 more COVID-19 cases were recorded today in comparison to yesterday. The country registered as many as 2,067 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
With this, the active caseload in the country stands at 13,433 which is 0.03 per cent of the total cases.
The daily cases positivity rate also saw a rise from 0.49 per cent on Wednesday to 0.53 per cent on Thursday.
As far as vaccination is concerned, 15,47,288 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered during this period. With this, the total number of vaccine jabs administered under the nationwide vaccination drive so far went up to 1,87,07,08,111. (ANI)