There is no reason to think children will be disproportionately affected by COVID in the next wave, is the take of the head of a government working group. However, he did stress the need for additional resource inputs.?
Speaking to PTI, Dr NK Arora, Chairman of India's Covid-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) made this statement.?
"However, since the absolute numbers have increased, patients from both age groups are being noticed more,¡± he said.
"But based on what the experience is available from our own country and that from other parts of the world, there is no reason to believe that children will be disproportionately affected in the coming weeks and months or in the next wave," he added.
"It is absolutely necessary to appreciate that newborn, children and pregnant women require specific care facilities. Children below 10 years will need either mother or father or a care provider with them. Similarly infected pregnant women can deliver prematurely. I am given to understand that treatment protocols are already prepared and are under review by different paediatric groups and associations. The country is already managing children and most Covid care centres have provision but there is a need for additional resource inputs to improve the paediatric Covid services and align with the rest of the Covid-19 management framework,¡± he went on to say.?
"If we see the data of the first and second waves, it is very similar and it shows that children are usually protected and even if they get it, they only have mild infection. And the virus hasn't changed so there is no indication that children will be more affected in the third wave," said AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.?
"Those who floated this theory said that children have so far been not affected so perhaps they will be most affected in the third wave but there is so far no evidence that there will be a severe infection in children or there will be more cases in them in the upcoming wave," Guleria added.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital has recorded around 40 cases of ¡°severe" coronavirus infection among children during the second wave and around 15 of them were aged below one, a senior doctor said on Monday. Dr Urmila Jhamb, the head of the hospital¡¯s paediatrics department, said data collected during the second wave does not suggest that children have been infected in large numbers, ¡°but it doesn¡¯t mean it won¡¯t happen in the third wave".
Around 400 children suffering from COVID-19 were admitted to the facility from March to December last year, she said. ¡°During the second wave of coronavirus, starting April 1, the hospital has recorded around 40 cases of severe infection among children so far. Of these, around 15 were aged below one," she said.