Bhubaneswar: With hundreds of children below 12 years being infected by coronavirus in the country, the perception that most kids are spared from the disease has been proved wrong.
According to experts, though the fatality rate among child cases is between very low and nil, what is worrying is that most kids don’t show any symptoms at all. Their infection only comes to the fore only after they are tested when a family member or close relative tests positive.
For instance in Odisha, out of the 61 positive cases reported so far, eight are children. While the number is small, this constitutes 15% of all cases in the state, the New Indian Express reported quoting Odisha’s Director of Public Health, Dr Ajit Kumar Mohanty.
Similarly in Tamil Nadu, which has reported more than 1,300 cases, at least 40 cases involved children below 10 years. This includes an eight-month-old baby. Of Telangana’s 790 cases, 30 are children under 12. Five of them are infants as young as three months.
In Kerala, 12 children contracted COVID-19. Among them, three have been discharged from hospital. Out of 418 patients in SMS Medical College in Jaipur, Rajasthan, 28 are kids below 10. As many as 19 children have been infected in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal has reported three positive cases among children, including a nine-month-old infant. UP has reported seven child cases.
