Third Wave of Covid-19 Won’t Pose Greater Risk to Children - Study

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Third wave of Covid-19 won’t pose greater risk to children: Study AIIMS survey finds over 50% children had asymptomatic Covid infection

It’s highly unlikely that any future wave of Covid-19 by the prevailing variants of coronavirus will disproportionately affect children aged two years or older, a serosurvey conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, has found. This comes against the backdrop of a number of officials and health experts raising an alarm about the possible third wave affecting children more than adults.

AIIMS collected data between March 15 and June 10, 2021, from 4,509 participants across four states, of which 700 were less than 18 years of age and 3,809 were above it. The interim study found seroprevalence (the prevalence of Covid antibodies) in 55.7 per cent of those between 2 and 17 years of age, and in 63.5 per cent

of those above 18. “There was no statistically significant difference in prevalence between adults and children,” the study said.

A large proportion of children had asymptomatic Covid-19 infection. The overall seroprevalence was found to be 65.9 per cent. The second nationwide seroprevalence study, done in August-September 2020, had found 9 per cent of the 3,021 children aged 10-17 years seropositive. The latest study by AIIMS has found 60.3 per cent of those in 10-17 years were previously infected with Covid…