There are more children and younger people than older age groups being affected by this fourth wave of COVID-19, and being admitted to hospital. However, this “does not necessarily reflect more severe disease in children”, says University of Cape Town (UCT) Professor Mary-Ann Davies, director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, reports TimesLIVE.
“The major increase in children has been in the 10- to 19-year-old group, rather than in younger children, though Gauteng has seen more admissions in younger children,” said Davies, adding that this is fairly common with rising infections at the start of waves, “because the spread is initially among those with the greatest numbers of contacts”.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Omicron: Some simple steps to deal with the new variant
Pupils’ COVID jabs vital: Section27 in bid to dismiss ACDP application
Only six healthy children died of COVID-19 in first year — Public Health England