Second Wave Of COVID-19 Is Affecting More Children : Here's The Latest

COVID Affect on Children: Could the second wave of coronavirus actually be just as vulnerable to kids as adults?

In India, as COVID-19 cases are visibly going up, an increased number of daily cases is noticed among younger people and children too - who were relatively unaffected during the first wave when the elderly and those with co-morbidities were severely vulnerable.

What are the numbers like?

Between March 1 and April 4, Data from the Union health ministry shows 79,688 children have been infected in the five states – Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. The 'second wave' was officially declared but, currently, there is no vaccine for children. The nationwide vaccination drive kicked off for persons above 60 and those over 45 with illnesses earlier this year. The expansion of India’s immunisation drive started in mid-January with healthcare workers. Read more here

Maharashtra

While Maharashtra reported 60,684 fresh cases among children who have been infected between 1 March and 4 April, of these children, 9,882 are under the age of five years.

Delhi

In Delhi, however, the number is less but still 2,733 children have been infected and 441 of them are below the age of five. At least more than 30 percent of cases in the second wave are believed to have been reported due to the mutant strains, according to Dr Dhiren Gupta from a Delhi hospital, India Today reported.

Karnataka

Meanwhile, in Karnataka, the figure stands at 7,327 and 871 of them are below the age of five. In Uttar Pradesh, 3,004 children have been infected and 471 among them are below the age of five. In Chhattisgarh, 5,940 children were infected by the disease, with 922 of them below five.

What are the symptoms to watch?

Children of all ages are getting the virus. There are those aged more than 10 years and also between 1-8 years who are showing mild to moderate COVID. Earlier, children, below 18 years of age, with COVID-19 positive diagnosis had largely remained asymptomatic. “Children are definitely more symptomatic now than what we saw in the first wave,” said Tanu Singhal, a paediatrician and infectious disease specialist in Mumbai, told the Hindustan Times. “The severity of their illness has gone up.”

Children and adolescents are now showing more noticeable symptoms such as prolonged fever and gastroenteritis. The doctors say "Children are having high-grade fever, often 101-102 degrees." Other symptoms being shown by children are sore throat, weakness, fatigue, exhaustion, headache, blocked nose, abdominal pain and severe diarrhoea.

What are the doctors saying?

Paediatrician Dr. Bakul Parekh, who runs a children’s hospital in Ghatkopar in Mumbai, has admitted six children between 1 and 7 years old to the hospital this month. "The patients who were breathless required steroids and oxygen support,” Parekh told Hindustan Times. He barely recalled referring even a single child who needed hospitalisation. Doctors also link new mutations with the increased impact on children.

Dr Shyam Kukreja, senior director and consultant paediatrician in Delhi, confirmed to India Today that given the recent data collected from the patients, children could soon require a vaccine in the future. "I think if they start getting a severe disease, it could be a possibility. They spread influenza quickly as children mingle with each other in school and they get the infection. Hopefully, some vaccine could be ready by next year," he said.