Children must be at home for few more months: Goa Health Minister

Panaji, Sep 9 (IANS) Children may have to be kept at home and away from school in the coming months in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and no possibility of vaccine development in the near future, Goa Health and Women and Child Development Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Wednesday.

Rane also said that the recent roadblock hit by the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine developers would mean that life would have to go on with masks and amid the fear of coronavirus.

"We have to think about living with Covid and masks. For some months, we have to keep the children at home. We have to think about their education through e-learning," Rane told a function organised by the Women and Child Development Ministry here.

The Health Minister also said that his ministry would lay more focus on digitalisation of anganwadis through corporate social responsiblity (CSR) funds, which would help the facilitation of e-learning at the anganwadi centres.

"We are digitising angandwadis through CSR. According to me, we should give more stress on e-learning," Rane said.

Goa is currently witnessing a spike in Covid-19 cases with a total of 21,630 confirmed cases reported from across the state so far. Goa has also reported 256 Covid related deaths ever since the pandemic broke out in March this year.