DEHRADUN: Reeling under raging second wave of COVID-19, Uttarakhand has also registered alarming rise of infection among children.
Medical experts have warned that if steps not taken to prevent the spread in children, situation will deteriorate further.
Dr Partap Rawat, Dehradun based pediatrician commenting on the issue said, "The trend is disturbing and can cause serious troubles. Though 95% children remain asymptomatic but things can get out of hand if this continues."
Till April 1, 2021, total 2,134 children between age group of 0-9 years were infected by Covid while total 2,935 got infected between April 2, 2021 to May 14, 2021.
The data shared by the state health department also revealed that cases have been registering significant increase every fortnight since the beginning of April 2021.
Between April 1-15, 2021 total 264 children in age group of 0-9 years of age got infected while the numbers increased to 1053 in duration of April 16-30. From May 1-14 2021 total 1618 children were reporter to have contracted infection.
At present, total 21,857 children between age group of 10-19 years have been detected with COVID-19 infection till date according to state health department data.
Meanwhile, total active cases in Uttarakhand reached 78,802 on Sunday. The number of active cases came down from 80,000 in comparison with Friday as 5034 people recovered from Covid on Sunday while 4,496 new cases were added.
Sunday also marked lowest number of new cases surfacing in one day over last 21 days.
Anoop Nautiyal, from Social Development for Communities Foundation which has been collating and analysing data in Uttarakhand, said, "Today is a day of hope amid all gloom and doom but then we should not be let our guard down. This is the time to stay vigilant and keep up the fight until this virus disappears."