Coronavirus 3rd Wave Corona The cases of corona infection among children are increasing rapidly in Mumbai. According to official data, between August 21 and August 28, 274 children under the age of 19 were diagnosed with the disease in Mumbai, accounting for 10.78 percent of the total cases. 65 of them are below nine years of age. Significantly, this is a time when experts have already warned about the possibility of a third wave.
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In the last few days, 15 children from an orphanage in Byculla and 18 in Mankhurd Children’s Home were found to be corona positive. Officials said that the cases of Kovid infection among children have increased since March, in June these cases have crossed 13 percent. The average infection among children is 6.5 percent of all cases since the start of the pandemic.
Officials said the situation could be attributed to mass vaccination of citizens above 18 years of age and the partial lifting of the lockdown in the past few months. However, there is no vaccine yet available for children. Let us tell you that in the week before August 28, 2,541 cases were registered in Mumbai and of which one-tenth were children. In the first 20 days of this month, 508 children were infected with the virus and this figure was 9.2 percent of the total 8,041 cases in the city.
Although in the first wave, people above 50 years of age were more infected while in the second wave more people were affected by the working class who are in the age group of 20 to 50 years. However, it did not affect the children. According to the census, about 29 percent of the city’s population is below 19 years of age and children comprise 5.6 percent of the total cases between March 2020 and February 2021. From May, as infections in adults began to decline, the proportion of cases in children began to rise.
Of the total 16,628 cases, 2,210 patients were below 19 years of age. Officials said that in July, the cases had come down slightly, probably due to awareness-raising and campaigns by civic corporations in the slums. Although the infection has increased in children, most of the infected are asymptomatic or affected by the mild infection. The virus has killed 13 children since March, which is less than 1 percent of the total deaths.
BMC told the reason for the infection
A third serosurvey conducted in June showed that more than 51 percent of children have COVID antibodies, which indicates that a significant proportion of children were exposed to the coronavirus during the second wave. BMC Additional Commissioner Suresh Kakani said that the cases of infection among children are also increasing because after the lifting of the lockdown restrictions, children are coming out in large numbers and following the Kovid rules. The official said parents need to be careful. He said, “Wearing a mask and washing hands frequently will help prevent infection.
