'Over 70% of kids coming to hosps with fever test +ve'

MP | 5 July 2022 | KOLKATA: Children in large numbers are getting infected with Covid but most of them complain about mild symptoms, doctors said. 

There is hardly any fatality or serious cases reported among the children, a senior child specialist in the city said. According to data, more than 70 per cent of the children who come to hospitals with fever eventually found Covid positive but the fatality rate is almost nil. 

"Most of the infected children are complaining about mild coughs, fever, and sore throat. Most of the infected patients do not have respiratory distress or any sort of discomfort. Most of the patients who are undertaking tests are turning out to be positive," said a senior official of a children's hospital in Kolkata. 

Health experts are apprehending that a new variant of coronavirus might push the daily Covid log further. Daily infection in the state has already reached close to 20,000. Covid vaccination among the children below 12 years has not been started. 

Senior doctors have however suggested that Covid tests must be carried on those children who have symptoms. 

Paracetamol drugs can be applied on the patients. It was learnt that genomes sequencing is being conducted on these samples to find out the nature of variants. It may be mentioned here that children were infected in large numbers during the third wave. 

According to the health department data, during January this year when the Covid infection was at its peak, children were mostly infected with the omicron variant. Nearly around 70 per cent of the children infected with Covid were found omicron positive in January while around 81 per cent of the total Covid-infected people among the general population had been found Omicron positive, said health department data. 

"Children are testing positive but the infection is mostly mild and the mortality rate almost nil. There is enough anecdotal evidence of COVID-19 catching children, teens and younger this time also but there is hardly any reason to panic. The children are recovering soon," a senior official of Dr BC Roy Children Hospital said. 

http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/over-70-of-kids-coming-to-hosps-with-fever-test-ve-484622