BENGALURU: There has been no increase in Covid infections among children as compared to adults in the third wave, despite adults being vaccinated and younger children not being eligible for jabs, reveals an analysis by the state Covid 19 war room.
Several experts had warned that the third wave could target children the most as they would not be vaccinated. But Munish Moudgil, head of the state Covid war room, said children have been less susceptible as compared to adults in the ongoing wave.
“In other words, the third wave is spreading among adults much more than among children. There does not appear to be any increased infection rate among children (0 to 18 years) in the third wave when compared to the second wave. On the contrary, infections among children has come down,” Moudgil said.
In a table highlighting the positivity rate in April 2021, May 2021, November 2021, December 2021 and January 2022, comparing paediatric patients and those aged 19 and above, the war room analysis shows that the positivity rate among children was 8.82 per cent, 24.61 per cent, 0.23 per cent, 0.22 per cent and 2.71 per cent, respectively. At the same time, in the adult age group it was 15.53 per cent, 26.68 per cent, 0.39 per cent, 0.51 per cent and 7.75 per cent, respectively.
From the first wave till now, 97,490 children aged between 0 and 9 years have tested Covid-positive in the state, while 2,49,661 patients in the 10-19 age group tested positive, as per the daily Covid war room report. The mortality rate among the two age groups is the lowest as compared to other age groups, too. There have been 67 deaths in the 0-9 age group and 94 in the 10-19 age bracket.
The analysis also found that the number of patients needing hospitalisation in the third wave has been about five times lesser than what it was in the second wave. However, the case doubling rate is about three times higher than in the second wave, indicating that the current wave is spreading faster but is less severe as compared to the earlier two waves.
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