99,000 adolescents, 38,000 kids in Maharashtra Covid positive in 2 months: Data
Over 99,000 adolescents tested positive for Covid-19 and over 38,000 children up to 10 years were infected with coronavirus between February 15 and April 15 in the state
Over 99,000 adolescents tested positive for Covid-19 and over 38,000 children up to 10 years were infected with coronavirus between February 15 and April 15 in the state. Between the period, 99,022 people between the age group of 11 to 20 and 38,265 children up to age 10 have tested positive in Maharashtra. The two categories constituted 137,287 or 9.06% of the total positive 1,513,882 cases, clocked in the state in the last two months.
Data showed that children and adolescents are getting more affected in the second Covid-19 wave compared to the first wave in the state. The data from the state medical education and drugs department (MEDD) revealed that between August 15 and October 15, when Maharashtra hit its first peak, the number of children infected were 34,154 and adolescents infected were 66,272.
State health department officials blamed the rise in cases among the age group to “moving population” between the age of 21 to 40, which “bring home the infection”. Officials added that the fatality in the age group is low owing to better immunity.
“The cases among children and adolescents have increased in the second wave compared to the first one. The moving population do not follow the Covid-appropriate behaviour properly. As they move out and about, they bring home the infection. Therefore, one has to be extremely careful while moving out,” said Dr TP Lahane, director of directorate of medical education and research (DMER).
Lahane added that the symptoms have changed in the age group from the last wave. He added that most children largely remained asymptomatic in the first wave, but now show mild symptoms. “The disease is mild in 80% of the cases. But slight change has been observed in symptoms. Such as patients getting loose motions, nasal watering, stomach-related issues, recurring fever, etc. however the fatality is very low,” said Lahane.
Dr Soonu Udani, a paediatrician and critical care specialist at SRCC Children’s Hospital, said that the number of children being hospitalised has increased from the first wave. She added that the symptoms too have changed from the previous wave. She added that the biggest change from the previous wave was in the symptoms and the number of “very sick” cases that land up in the hospital.
“In the first wave, we saw children with mild fever and few were very sick. From the 120 children, we saw last year, five or six were sick. This time, it is just the opposite. Our figures show that from April 1 to today, we have had 17 or 18 admissions, including a newborn and a five-year-old. Of them, nine patients are very sick. They are coming with different symptoms from last time, like pneumonia, convulsions, encephalopathy, which is drowsiness, stupor, unresponsiveness, etc. Also, mild ones have had diarrhoea. Unless they are dehydrated, we don’t admit them, but the number of such cases is high,” she said.
Dr Lancelot Pinto, epidemiologist, who is attached to PD Hinduja Hospital, said that the high number of cases is a reflection of the demographic. “Our median age is 27 years, if the virus is affecting every second person, it is bound to affect children as well. Besides that, many people have been stepping out of the home, so children have contracted the infection too.”
He added that children have a better immune system than adults and therefore they will recover faster. “For most of the children, it is like any other mild respiratory tract infection which lasts for three days. An extremely small percentage of people need to be admitted to hospitals and even a low percentage of children die with Covid, across the world. However, we need to see if children develop any inflammatory syndrome MIS-C (Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children) after a month,” he said.