Covid -19 Spread In Children Theory Has No Scientific Base: Maharashtra State Health Department

Mumbai, 3rd June 2021: The Covid-19 cases in children, under the age of five in the last six months, have been between one to one and a half percent of the total patients. So the fear of children getting more and more infected in the third wave of the Covid-19 is unsubstantiated. It has no scientific basis, according to the Maharashtra Health Department.

The third wave of the Covid-19 is expected to hit young children the most. So, the parents are worried, keeping this in mind, the Disease Surveillance Officer of the state Health Department, Dr Pradip Awate, compared the incidence and mortality of children between the ages of zero and 18 based on the patient statistics of the last six months. The incidence of infection in children has not changed much.

“Everyone over the age of 18 is being vaccinated. Therefore, it is argued that the virus will transform itself and infiltrate young children. This theory has no basis. Young children do not develop the specific receptors needed for the virus to enter the body. Therefore, they do not appear to have very serious illnesses. In the last six months, the proportion of children of different ages has not changed much compared to the total number of Coronary Heart disease patients,” said Dr Awate.

A third wave is likely, but it is difficult to predict when it will come and how intense it will be. Like adults, small children are afraid of being infected with Covid-19; but in the third wave, children are less likely to be affected. Covid-19 is mild in 90% of children, thus, it is rare to find a severe case of the same in children. For those rare cases, children may need an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Therefore, an effort is being made to up the number of ICU beds.

The study found that although young children became infected in the second wave, they had a much lower risk of complications and deaths than adults. The under-18 mortality rate in May was percent cent. This means that if an average of 10,000 children became infected, only one of them died. Complications are more likely to occur in children with high-risk illnesses.

“Being prepared to fight against a possible third wave is wise, but it’s not right to create unnecessary panic in the minds of people. Parents should make sure that their children are vaccinated regularly. They should complete their vaccination process on time and should avoid imposing unnecessary restrictions on children because of fear of the third wave”, Dr Awate added.