Corona Attacking kids?
The released data of Empowered Group-1 (EG-1) showed that the number of children in the age group of one to ten years in the total active cases increased from 2.80 percent to 7.04 percent from March to August.
Corona virus cases increasing in children (indicative picture)
In India, there has been an increase in the number of children undergoing treatment for coronavirus infection, ie active cases. This information has been received from the data of Empowered Group-1 (EG-1) presented in the recently held meeting. EG-1 has the responsibility of preparing the Corona emergency strategy in the country. According to this, there has been a steady increase in the share of Kovid positive children below the age of 10 years in the total active cases since March this year.
The data shows that the share of children aged 1-10 years in the total active corona cases has increased from 2.80 percent in March this year to 7.04 percent in August. That is, out of every 100 active corona cases, about seven are children. Emphasizing that the “slight change” towards children cannot be termed as “dramatic”, experts say the rising COVID cases in the age group of 1-10 years is a result of the youth’s low susceptibility to the virus. can be.
The data was presented at the EG-1 meeting chaired by NITI Aayog member VK Paul, in which officials from various ministries, including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, were present. Statistics show that in the nine months from June 2020 to February 2021, before March, children in the age group of 1-10 years accounted for between 2.72 per cent to 3.59 per cent of the total active cases.
Corona among most children in Mizoram
Among the 18 states and union territories for which data is available for the month of August, Mizoram had the highest number of corona cases in children (16.48 percent of the total active cases) and the lowest (2.25 percent) in Delhi. Eight states – Mizoram (16.48 percent), Meghalaya (9.35 percent), Manipur (8.74 percent), Kerala (8.62 percent), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (8.2 percent), Sikkim (8.02 percent), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (7.69 percent) ) and Arunachal Pradesh (7.38 percent) – recorded a higher proportion of children with corona than the national average of 7.04 percent.
By the end of 2021, 17 percent of children are estimated to have corona
The states that recorded a ratio lower than the national average for August were Puducherry (6.95 per cent), Goa (6.86 per cent), Nagaland (5.48 per cent), Assam (5.04 per cent), Karnataka (4.59 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (4.53 per cent). Odisha (4.18 percent), Maharashtra (4.08 percent), Tripura (3.54 percent) and Delhi (2.25 percent). According to a report by the Technical Group on Population Estimates, children below the age of 10 years are estimated to constitute about 17 per cent of the total population by the end of March 2021.
Positivity rate 57-58 percent in children
The source said that the ratio of children being admitted to the hospital is higher than before. He said that this could be due to two reasons, either there is more awareness and alertness among the youth or children are getting more vulnerable to it. If we look at the sero surveys, the positivity rate in children is 57-58 percent. This shows that by and large, children are part of the pandemic and have always been a part of the pandemic.
The fourth and latest round of national sero-survey for corona, conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in June and July, shows that the sero-prevalence in children aged 6-9 was 57.2 and 61.6 percent, compared to 10. For the entire population in the age group of 17 to less than 67.6 percent. Experts say that the increasing cases of Kovid in children may be a result of reduced susceptibility to the virus among the youth.
Corona situation in the country
At the same time, when asked about the strategy to deal with cases of Kovid in children, sources said that vaccine candidates like Biological E are in the process of getting necessary approvals for children below 10 years of age. The second wave of corona started in March this year and peaked in the first week of May, when the national new case count was 4.14 lakh. Since then, the second wave has subsided. On Monday, India reported 27,254 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the active caseload to 3,74,269.
Earlier, EG-1 had reported that 5 percent of ICU beds and 4 percent of non-ICU oxygen beds were kept for pediatric care in view of fears that children may be affected in the next wave of corona should go.
