Isolate the child if symptoms like rashes, fever, or mouth sores appear. This infects her toys and other surfaces of the house the child frequently touches — this is part of the advisory issued by a few schools in Delhi as the cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) begin to surface in the capital.

The rising cases of HFMD among young children even drew the attention of the Education Minister, Ashish Sood, who said “stray incidents that often occur in monsoon” are being witnessed.

The contagious Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease is a viral infection, usually affecting children between the ages of 3 to 7. Early symptoms include fever, rashes, mouth sores, and discomfort. Because of their rising cases in the capital city, localised actions are visible in some schools, while many are yet to take notice of HFMD cases.

For instance, on Wednesday, RS Junior Modern School at Himu Road, with two children studying in Class 1 — one recently quarantined after being diagnosed with HFMD — issued a formal circular to parents for the conduction of virtual classes of a particular section on Thursday and Friday. The whole classroom is being sanitised, while washroom staff has been changed.

“We would like to bring to your attention that cases of HFMD are still being reported in school. While we are taking all precautions, we seek your support in helping us control its spread,” said the circular of the school. The circular also asked parents to monitor their children for symptoms such as fever, red rashes on hands and feet, sore throat, or irritability, and seek medical attention if required. “Do not send your child to school and inform the school immediately,” the circular warned.

Another parent of a Class 1 female student at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (SPV), Lodhi Road, said his daughter was diagnosed with HFMD in mid-July after she developed painful ulcers in her mouth and had persistent fever.

“My daughter recovered, but she missed classes. There is no formal advisory or awareness in schools on this… Our main concern is that some schools are closed, some are not,” said the parent to the national media.

Education Minster Comments

The Education Minister further informed the national media that a consolidated report of such cases amongst government schools is currently unavailable.
“These are stray incidents that often occur during the monsoon season. Only two students in one class were affected, and the school shifted that class online. As a precaution, the health department has not issued any specific advisory. If we start treating such isolated cases as an outbreak, it will create unnecessary panic.”

However, schools have issued several advisories that warn parents not to ignore the early signs.

“We have issued a monsoon advisory and another one on dengue… We conducted fumigation and asked our students to wear waterproof and non-slippery footwear, carry raincoats, and safe drinking water,” said Sudha Acharya, the principal of ITL Public School in Dwarka and head of the CBSE Sahodaya Schools Cluster in Southwest Delhi. She further said that no such cases have been reported from the 50 schools in Dwarka.