Over 5,000 Children Test COVID Positive In Meghalaya, 17 Died Since Last Year: What We Know

Over 5,000 children in the age group of 0-14 years have tested positive for COVID-19 in Meghalaya, 17 of which succumbed to the infection, Health Minister A L Hek said. He also stated that none of the newborns delivered by COVID-positive mothers were found to have got infected.

¡°So far, 5,101 children in the age group of 0-14 years were diagnosed with the disease. Seventeen children died of the infection since last year,¡± the minister said. Out of these 4,344 children have recovered so far.

PTI

Out of these 17 children, 13 died in the last month after the state saw a spike in Covid cases. Noting that the third wave of the pandemic, which is likely to strike later this year, may pose a greater threat to the children, as suggested by experts, Hek said the state government is making necessary preparations in anticipation.

State govt's preparations

Sharing the numbers, state health minister told mediapersons that the government has now decided to set up paediatric hospitals at three locations -- Shillong, Tura in West Garo Hills and Jowai in West Jaintia Hills district. These hospitals, the minister said, will be set up in prefabricated buildings -- buildings put together by assembling factory-made components.

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Responding to a question on whether three hospitals for children are adequate in view of apprehensions that a possible third wave of Covid infections may severely affect this age group, the minister replied, "Covid will attack everybody, not just children. We have to be careful."

Children and third wave

While a section of experts and studies have stated that there is no indication yet that children will be more severely affected in the event of the third wave, several states have started preparing for the next spike in cases with a focus on them. Meghalaya reported 478 new Covid cases and four deaths over the past 24 hours.

The number of confirmed cases among children accounts for 11.66 per cent of the total 43,732 cases reported by the state so far. Meghalaya has inoculated 5.44 lakh people so far, with over 75,000 of them having received both the doses. The state has registered 762 deaths due to the disease.