Amid concerns over a probable third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Centre on Saturday said
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 hospitalization
generally," Niti Aayog (health) member VK Paul said on Saturday, during the press briefing of the Union
health ministry. Explaining three points about Covid-19 infection among children, 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 said.
" 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," Dr. Paul said. Children
account for about 3-4 percent of hospital admission, in both India and the rest of the
world, he said adding special attention should be on those between the age of 10 and
12 years as they are very mobile. As the ongoing second wave of the pandemic is
gradually coming under control with a steady fall in the number of daily positive cases
and the positivity rate, concerns over a third wave have been expressed by experts,
state governments. It has also been apprehended that this possible third wave may
impact children. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a recent meeting with state and
district officials, has asked them to collect data on the infection transmission and
severity among youth and children.