Covid-19: No indication that children will be ’severely affected’ in third wave, says govt

As India continues to grapple with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are a host of queries on our minds regarding the killer virus. One such query is - will the third wave of coronavirus in India hit children the most?

Addressing a routine press briefing on Covid-19, a top government official said that there is no indication, as of now, that children will be severely affected in the third wave of the pandemic.

However, experts have already called for preparations for the third wave of Covid-19, which they predict will hit India later this year. They have also warned that children would be affected by the third wave.

Amid apprehension of a third wave later this year or early next year, states have already started preparing, focussing mostly on protecting the children.

'Children can get and spread Covid infection'

The government had earlier said that children are not immune from the infection, but the impact is minimal.

"If children get affected by Covid, either there will be no symptoms or there will be minimal symptoms. They do not require hospitalisation generally," Niti Aayog (health) member VK Paul had said during a press briefing of the Union Health Ministry.

Talking about three points about Covid-19 infection among kids, Dr Paul said that children are not immune from this infection and they can infect others but children do not generally suffer from severe infection.

"Health infrastructure should be ramped up to treat Covid-19 among children, but it is most important to not let them become a part of the transmission chain in the first place," Dr Paul added.

"Some facts are clear in front of us. Children can be infected and they can be infected to quite an extent. It can't be said with certainty that the infection among children is comparatively less. For example, the December-January serosurvey revealed that the seropositivity rate among children and older is almost the same," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier called for the collection of data on the transmission of Covid-19 among youth and children in each district in a meeting with district magistrates and field officials of 10 states. PM Modi said such data must be analysed regularly to protect them.