Dikhyaa Mohanty 
After the re-opening of schools in Odisha, a sudden rise of Covid cases in the age group of 0-18 years has triggered an alarm among the parents across the state and the State Health Department is advocating the need for a close watch on the children by their parents.
As per the official reports, Unicef India has stated that prevention is better than cure and all children above 2-years of age can wear the mask to prevent themselves from the infection. Though the rate of hospitalisation among children in the second wave has been not high vis-a-vis the infected individuals in the age-group of 30-60 years, the apex UN body on Children has issued a set of detailed guidelines specifying the ‘watch out signs’, ‘the danger signs’, ‘when to test’ and codes for home isolation. The details follow below.
As per UNICEF, in India, parents need to keep a close watch on their children, especially in the age group of 0-10 years. They should go for the RTPCR test when they record the following observations. If a child has a fever that has continued beyond three days or if the symptoms of COVID-19 like cough, runny nose, vomiting, loose stools, etc are observed in a child.
Further, if your child is in home isolation after tested COVID-19 positive, it’s important to know, and look out for the following five symptoms like high Fever (more than 101F) lasting beyond three days or decreased oral intake by the child or child becoming lethargic or increasing respiratory rate or oxygen saturation dropping below 95 per cent at home (ensure proper recording with good displayed waves).
