COVID-19

‘Best Time To Get COVID’: Top Scientist Asks Parents Not To Worry About Children; Know Why

By
OB Bureau

New Delhi: With Delhi seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases recording 366 cases in the last 24 hours, top biomedical scientist Dr Gagandeep Kang urged parents not to worry.

“I think if you have to get COVID the best time to get it is when you are a healthy child. Children who are infected do not manifest with symptoms in the majority…Recent sero surveys indicate 80 per cent children have already been infected. We should not expect protection from infection. As the virus evolves, it is going to continue to evolve in ways that allow it to infect us again and again and again…This is particularly true for children,” she told NDTV.

“So the data that parents should be looking at is really not about the cases, or about the number of children who were detected to have infection, or about children who have had mild symptoms. It should really be among the infected children how many wound up needing hospitalisation. And we will see that those numbers are very, very few,” she said.

On whether the XE variant is driving the rise in cases, Dr Kang said, “We don’t necessarily know that all of the cases that are being reported are of the XE variant unless we sequence them all.”

“XE is a derivative of Omicron. In terms of what we know about Omicron, this is a virus that replicates more on the upper respiratory tract than in the lower respiratory tract, so the symptoms you would expect to see would be infection of the upper respiratory tract by and large, fever, restlessness, but not the kind of severe disease that put people to hospitals earlier,” she said.

OB Bureau

Recent Posts

System Over Bay Of Bengal To Trigger Rain In Odisha, Push Up Night Temp By 2-4°C

Bhubaneswar: Dense fog reduced visibility in Odisha's Rourkela while moderate fog engulfed Koraput, Bhawanipatna and…

November 24, 2024

IPL Auction: Rishabh Pant Sold At Record Rs 27 Cr After Shreyas Iyer Fetches Rs 26.75 Cr

Mumbai: Shreyas Iyer may be out of the Indian team currently, but the dashing right-handed…

November 24, 2024

What Did PM Narendra Modi Take From Odisha As Gift During 3-Nation Visit?

Bhubaneswar: A rare and exquisitely crafted Filigree boat made of pure silver from Odisha was…

November 24, 2024

PM Narendra Modi Tweets His Excitement Over Attending ‘Odisha Parba 2024’ Today

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the ‘Odisha Parba 2024’ programme on…

November 24, 2024

SEBI In Dock As Bribery Case Involving Gautam Adani, His Officials Reaches Supreme Court

New Delhi: A fresh application was filed before the Supreme Court on Sunday urging the…

November 24, 2024

[Watch] Odisha CM Disburses Subhadra Assistance To Over 20 Lakh Beneficiaries In 3rd Phase

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Majhi disbursed the first instalment of Rs 5,000 under Subhadra Yojana…

November 24, 2024

Low Pressure Over Bay Of Bengal Becomes Well Marked; Will It Intensify Into Cyclone?

Bhubaneswar: The low-pressure over east Equatorial Indian Ocean (EIO) and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal…

November 24, 2024

Here’s Why Rishabh Pant Gifted Scooters To Two Factory Workers

New Delhi: Cricket fans were left gasping for breath in December 2022 when Indian wicketkeeper-batter…

November 24, 2024