Coronavirus: UAE doctors highlight need to educate children on safety measures ahead of school return

Doctors in the UAE believe it is crucial that children are educated in basic hand-hygiene and social distancing before they return to schools this month.

Education authorities in Abu Dhabi have said children under the age of 12 will not be required to be tested for Covid-19 before they go back to classrooms on August 30.

Medics have reassured parents that relatively few children have been affected by the virus worldwide and said following key safety measures can further limit their risk of infection.

Dr Anuradha Ajesh, specialist paediatrician at Bareen International Hospital in MBZ City, Abu Dhabi, said she had only seen asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 among children in the UAE.

"The aim of Covid-19 testing is to reduce the rate of infection and worldwide relatively few children have contracted Covid-19. Children play a minor role in the spread of coronavirus.

"The virus usually spreads between adults and from adults to children, but the spread of Covid-19 from children to adults is less common. That is maybe one of the reasons why children under the age of 12 are not being tested for Covid-19 before they head back to school," said Dr Ajesh.

Dr Ajesh said many children who had Covid-19 were asymptomatic or had very mild symptoms.

In adults, the body's immune system starts attacking its own tissue, but this does not happen to children as they have immature immune systems.

Crucial precautionary measures highlighted by the doctor were daily temperature checks and sanitisation at schools.

She also said the movement of pupils should be restricted and rather than children going from one class to another, teachers can move from class to class.

Dr Manoj Chandran, specialist paediatrician at Medcare Women and Children Hospital in Dubai, said that parents who were worried about the risks of sending their children to school could opt for distance learning, especially for young ones, unless their social development skills were being affected.

The Ministry of Education outlined this week that parents will have the option of continuing distance learning for the first term of the academic year.

"The cases are less severe in small children and it would be ideal if pupils were tested before heading to school. But, parents can choose to not send very young children to school. They can look at whether cases are decreasing and decide after a month," said Dr Chandran.

The doctor said parents should focus on their nutritional and emotional support, as well as teaching children the right strategies to prevent infection.

"Children need to be taught to wear masks properly and maintain physical distance. Also, teach your children to sanitise their hands after playing or interacting with friends," he said.

The doctor said children need proper nutrition so that their immunity is high and vitamin C supplementation will help.

After they come home from school, the children should take immediately take a bath and change their clothes, he added.

Dr Chandran allayed parent's fears and said he had not seen any paediatric covid-19 cases in the last two months.

While some parents were relieved their young ones would be spared Covid-19 testing before schools reopen, others said mandatory testing for all would ensure the schools remained free of the virus.

Suzanne Barker, a mother of two said a one-off test would only give the status on day one.

“I am relieved as we have been so careful about circulating that going for the test itself would have been the biggest risk we would have been exposed to in a long time," said Ms Barker.

“The schools and Adek (Abu Dhabi's Department of Education and Knowledge) are doing a great job to structure things to minimise risk. We should all just continue to be sensible with our precautions and put our trust in those parties to keep the children safe.

Jennifer Bell, a British mum who has two children aged 11 and nine, also backed the decision to not implement mandatory testing for under 12s.

"I'm happy that children under 12 won't be tested now because these kinds of experiences can be scary for kids – seeing the people in hazmat suits and the procedure itself isn't nice," she said.

"I think if the adults in the home are tested this should suffice, unless the children become symptomatic."

Louise Holden, a 38-year-old British mother of three, two of whom attend school, said she was glad everyone is tested on arrival as travellers posed the biggest risk.

Her family had not travelled over the summer.

"I’m relieved children won’t be tested as it would be very distressing for my six-year-old and under four-year-old," said Ms Holden.

Some parents believe all pupils should be tested

Amna Mustafa, an Indian parent of two boys, Ali aged 11 and Rayaan aged nine, said it would be ideal if all pupils were tested before they went back to school.

"I do not know why they are testing one group of children but not the other," said Ms Mustafa.

She said that a pupil could be living with someone who has Covid-19, thus putting other children at risk.