What is COVID-19 among children, its prevention and management?
30 Jul, 2021 | 09:40Thousands of children, in all age groups, from across the country have been tested positive for Covid-19, during the second wave, creating panic among parents. The experts say that though most children develop mild disease, there is a need to keep them protected from getting infection. Dr. Narendra Kumar Arora, a paediatric gastroenterologist and a senior member of the National Covid-19 Task Force tells how to treat and care for children who have contracted Covid-19. Excerpts.
Recently, a lot of States have reported an increase in the number of children tested positive for Covid-19. Do you think more children are being infected in the second wave of the disease?
Children are as susceptible to catching the Covid-19 infection as adults and according to our latest national sero-survey also, 25 percent of children surveyed were found to be affected by Covid-19. Even children below 10 years were also found to be as infected as other age groups. National data on the disease tells us that around 3-4 percent of children were symptomatic during the first wave of Covid-19 and this percentage remains the same during the second wave also. However, since the total number of cases has gone up, it has affected more number of children this time.