[ad_1]

A computer image created by Nexu Science Communication together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus which is the type of virus linked to COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus linked to the Wuhan outbreak, shared with Reuters on February 18, 2020. NEXU Science Communication/via REUTERS

The study of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals between January and July found that less than one percent were children.
Reuters
Last Updated: August 28, 2020, 9:52 AM IST

Children and young people are far less likely than adults to get severe cases of COVID-19 infection, and death from the pandemic disease among children is exceptionally rare, according to UK research published on Thursday.

A study of COVID-19 patients admitted to 138 hospitals in Britain found that less than 1% were children, and of those fewer than 1% – or six in total – died, all of whom were already suffering serious illness or underlying health disorders.

“We can be quite sure that COVID in itself is not causing harm to children on a significant scale,” said Malcolm Semple, a professor of outbreak medicine and child health at Britain’s University of Liverpool, who co-led the work.

“The highest level message really has to be that (in children with COVID-19) severe disease is rare, and death is vanishingly rare – and that (parents) should be comforted that their children are not at direct harm by going back into school,” he told a briefing.

Global data on the spread of the coronavirus pandemic shows that children and young people make up only 1-2% of cases of COVID-19 worldwide. The vast majority of reported infections in children are mild or asymptomatic, with few recorded deaths.

For this study, published in the BMJ medical journal, Semple’s team looked at data from 651 babies and children under 19 who were hospitalized with COVID-19 between Jan. 17 and July 3.

The six children who died all had “profound comorbidity”, the researchers said, and this was a “strikingly low” fatality rate compared with a 27% across all age groups – from 0-106 years – of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the same period.

Also Watch

Why Members Of The Greater Andamanese Tribe Are In Severe Danger?

While the overall risk of children getting severe COVID is “tiny”, the researchers said, children of Black ethnicity and those with obesity are disproportionately affected, as previous studies in adults have found.

The study also showed that children can have a cluster of symptoms including sore throat, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and rash alongside already-recognized COVID-19 symptoms of fever, breathlessness, and cough.

Array
(
[videos] => Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[id] => 5f47c2f57c39367400fa26fb
[youtube_id] => ucc-OT85m4I
Children Less Likely to Contract Severe Covid-19 Infection, New Study Finds => Why Members Of The Greater Andamanese Tribe Are In Severe Danger?
)

[1] => Array
(
[id] => 5f47a8b5082aa874143f4103
[youtube_id] => k2cA4Lq4Cos
Children Less Likely to Contract Severe Covid-19 Infection, New Study Finds => Supreme Court Denies Permission For Muharram Processions Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
)

)

[query] => https://pubstack.nw18.com/pubsync/v1/api/videos/recommended?source=n18english&channels=5d95e6c378c2f2492e2148a2,5d95e6c278c2f2492e214884,5d96f74de3f5f312274ca307&categories=5d95e6d7340a9e4981b2e10a&query=children%2Ccoronavirus%2Ccovid-19%2Cpandemic%2Cstudy&publish_min=2020-08-25T09:52:47.000Z&publish_max=2020-08-28T09:52:47.000Z&sort_by=date-relevance&order_by=0&limit=2
)

[ad_2]