COVID-19 third wave may not affect children more: Centre

New Delhi: The suspicion that the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will affect children severely may not be true after all. The Centre on Friday (June 18) said that the children may not be disproportionately affected by the third wave.

Addressing a routine COVID press conference, Luv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary at Health Ministry, said that the result of the serosurvey shows that the spread of infection was almost equal in all age groups.

“It may not be true that children will be disproportionately affected in the third wave as the serosurvey shows seropositivity was almost equal in all age groups,” Aggarwal said.

“But the government is not leaving any stone unturned in terms of preparations,” he added.

The government’s statement comes a day after a WHO-AIIMS survey showed that the sero-positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 among children is high and comparable to the adult population which means the coronavirus is unlikely to affect children more than the adult population in any future wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIIMS chief Director Randeep Guleria and Professors from the Department of Centre for Community Medicine Puneet Misra, Shashi Kant and Sanjay K Rai were a part of the study.

Citing the survey, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog, said that “the seropositivity in persons below and above 18 years of age is almost equal. In persons above 18, the seropositivity rate is 67 per cent and 59 per cent in persons below 18”.

“In urban areas, it is 78 per cent in persons below 18 and 79 per cent in above 18. In rural areas, the seropositivity rate is 56 per cent in persons below 18 years of age and 63 per cent in persons above 18,” he added.

“The information show that the children were infected but it was very mild. Only isolated cases of infection may occur in children (during 3rd wave of COVID),” Dr Paul said.

Aggarwal, however, mentioned that there is a need to be cautious while activities are resumed across the country.

Over 5000 children affected in Meghalaya

Meanwhile, Meghalaya Health Minister A L Hek on Friday said that over 5000 children in the age group of 0-14 have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state since last year. He informed that 17 of them succumbed to the disease.