IS THE INDIAN VARIANT MORE OF A RISK TO CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS?
Doctors in India claim there has been a sudden spike in Covid hospital admissions among people under 45, who have traditionally been less vulnerable to the disease.
There have been anecdotal reports from medics that young people make up two third of new patients in Delhi. In Bangalore, under-40s made up 58 percent of infections in early April, up from 46 percent last year.
But this could be completely circumstantial – older people are more likely to shield themselves or to have been vaccinated – and there is still no proof younger people are more badly affected by the new strain.
Do we need to take a closer look at what we re feeding out children?
Credit: Alamy
What with working from home, schooling at the kitchen table, sports facilities closed and even meeting friends in the park rationed, the past 15 months have been a challenge for parents and children alike. Is it any wonder that the kids have spent more time than ever watching screens of one kind or another, while exhausted parents reach for a bag of crisps come lunchtime? “Anything to get through” has been our mantra.
But for most of us, whether we’re parents, concerned friends or relatives, there’s a niggling awareness that the health of our kids is taking a serious battering. It’s not a new issue, of course. Lord Coe, speaking on the BBC Today programme on Thursday, admitted that “between the ages of 10 and 14, children become 50 per cent less active”.
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Dr O’Hare is a senior lecturer in Global Health. She is also a senior lecturer in Paediatrics and Child Health, College of Medicine, Malawi and consultant paediatrician. She has worked in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa as a paediatrician and public health doctor. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), sits on the Working Group on Climate Change and chairs the International Strand. She was seconded to the Scottish Global Health Co-ordination Unit where she initiated the Active Global Citizenship strand of work and currently is the lead champion of academia. She is a member of the executive committee of the Paediatric and Child Health Association (PACHA) in Malawi, and is a member of the advocacy committee. She formerly sat on the advocacy committee and the international board of the RCPCH. Dr O'Hare studies the global influences on government revenue in low- and middle-income countries, and the impact this has on development and fun