China says impact of Coronavirus still ‘unknown’ as schools reopen

Reopening schools amid decelerating cases of the novel coronavirus in order to return to normalcy reportedly remains a major mystery in China. It hasn’t been ascertained as per the current patterns how the COVID-19 might impact the assembly of kids now that a few schools in the northwestern provinces of Xinjiang and Qinghai and in southwest China’s Guizhou have reopened, confirmed media reports.

According to the reports, when COVID-19 originated in Wuhan City, Hubei province, the government had already ordered the schools to shut down in late January for the Chinese New Year (CNY) holidays. Therefore, the health authorities hadn’t witnessed cases of contagion within the school premises, and as life goes back to normal in China, fears of school cluster infection loom amongst the health authorities.

Although, the WHO- China joint commission report that was released last month had ruled out the outbreak and any severe impact from the coronavirus among the kids. It cited a “relatively low attack rate” for persons below 18, roughly 2.4 percent, as per the media reports. It also highlighted the impact to be relatively “mild” among individuals below 19 years of age and stated that only 2.5 percent cases might spiral into the severe disease, and only 0.2 percent cases could be critical.

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Unsure how the disease might react

Gauden Galea, WHO’s head for China, said in a media report that it was unsure how the disease might react when the schools reopen. It was unknown what impact there might be on the assembly of children, whether the virus would infect them or not, he said. He further added that there were cases in the minority amongst the children, and they seem to get a very milder form of the virus, if at all. There haven’t been the cases of school-based cluster infection and the transmission trend might or might not change as children gather in thousands at school, he explained in the media report.

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