The suspicion that the dangerous third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will affect children severely may not be true. The Centre today said that the children may not be much affected by the third wave.
Luv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry, said that the result of the serosurvey showed that the spread of infection was almost equal in all age groups.
‘It may not be true that children will be disproportionately affected in the third wave as the serosurvey shows seropositivity was almost equal in all age groups,’ Aggarwal said.
‘However, the government is not leaving any stone unturned in terms of preparations,’ he added.
The government’s statement comes a day after a WHO-AIIMS survey showed that the sero-positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 among children is high and comparable to the adult population which means the coronavirus is unlikely to affect children more than the adult population in any future wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AIIMS Chief Director Randeep Guleria and Professors from the Department of Centre for Community Medicine Puneet Misra, Shashi Kant and Sanjay K Rai were a part of the study.
Citing the survey, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog, said, ‘the seropositivity in persons below and above 18 years of age is almost equal. In persons above 18, the seropositivity rate is 67 per cent and 59 per cent in persons below 18.’
‘In urban areas, it is 78 per cent in persons below 18 and 79 per cent in above 18. In rural areas, the seropositivity rate is 56 per cent in persons below 18 years of age and 63 per cent in persons above 18,’ he added.
‘The information showed that the children were infected but it was very mild. Only isolated cases of infection may occur in children (during 3rd wave of COVID),’ he further added.
Aggarwal, however, mentioned that there is a need to be cautious while activities are resumed across the country.
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