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No reason to believe children will be severely affected in the third Covid wave, Dr NK Arora has said
Arora, who is Director of INCLEN Trust, said it is not possible to predict any third wave at this time
New Delhi: There is no reason to believe that children will be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in the coming weeks and months or in the next wave, the head of a government working group, said but stressed the need for additional resource inputs to improve the paediatric Covid services.
In an interview,
Dr NK Arora, Chairman of India s COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), said Indian data does not show specific predilection of the currently circulating virus strains either for the youth or paediatric age group.
This is a hypothesis on why the infection has been less amongst children. (PTI)
NEW DELHI: There is no reason to believe that children will be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in the coming weeks and months or in the next wave, the head of a government working group said, but stressed on the need for additional resource inputs to improve the paediatric Covid services.
In an interview with PTI, Dr N K Arora, Chairman of India s Covid-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), said Indian data does not show specific predilection of the currently circulating virus strains either for the youth or paediatric age group.
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New Delhi, May 25
More children are testing positive in the second Covid wave but the infection is mostly mild and the mortality rate low, say experts, citing increased testing and enhanced understanding of symptoms as among the possible reasons for the rising graph.
Though there is enough anecdotal evidence of COVID-19 catching children – early teens and younger – there is little reason to panic, said several doctors and scientists. They also stressed on the urgent need to vaccinate children to stem the spread of the infection.
There is a general increase or shift in infection numbers towards children and younger groups as compared to older people, agreed virologist Upasana Ray. This could be because the virus had already infected more of the older age groups last year, leading to the development of immunity in those who recovered from various degrees of the infection.
Updated:
May 25, 2021 11:32 IST
But he stressed on the need to improve the paediatric Covid services and align with the rest of the COVID-19 management framework.
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Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan distributing school uniforms and face mask to children during the corona awarness programme in Chennai. File photo
| Photo Credit:
R. Ragu
But he stressed on the need to improve the paediatric Covid services and align with the rest of the COVID-19 management framework. There is no reason to believe that children will be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in the coming weeks and months or in the next wave, the head of a government working group said, but stressed on the need for additional resource inputs to improve the paediatric Covid services.
Any fresh surge in the Covid-19 epidemic is “highly unlikely” to predominantly or severely affect children, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics has asserted to try and allay what doctors say are baseless fears circulating on social media about a third wave hitting children hard.
The IAP, a body representing over 32,000 paediatricians across the country, said that while children appear as susceptible as adults and the elderly to develop the coronavirus infection, 90 per cent of infections in children are mild or without symptoms.
The public advisory from the IAP’s Covid-19 committee comes amid what paediatricians say are unsubstantiated suggestions that a third wave of the epidemic is likely to affect children harder than the first and second waves did.