All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, Director Dr Randeep Guleria said on June 8 that most of the children who had to be hospitalised during the COVID-19 second-wave outbreak had co-morbidities or low immunity.
The AIIMS Director said: “According to the second wave data, out of all the children admitted to hospitals with COVID-19, 60-70 percent had co-morbidities or low immunity; some were even on chemotherapy. Most healthy children who were infected with the novel coronavirus had recovered without requiring hospitalisation.”
While addressing a Union Health Ministry presser on June 8, Dr Guleria also said that there is no evidence that suggests children will be more affected during the outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic.
He explained: “If we look at all data, including Indian data from the first and second wave or even global data, there is no data to show that either the old or new variants led to more infection among children.”
Elaborating on waves of infections seen in the case of viruses that attack the respiratory system, the AIIMS head said: “It was seen in 1918, data shows that the second wave was the biggest wave. Maximum deaths and cases were seen in the second wave but there was a smaller third wave also.”
He added: “Lockdowns bring down infection but opening lockdowns lead to the possibility of a spike in infections.”
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