Kids comprise 1% of city’s Covid cases

Bhubaneswar: Children constitute just one per cent of the Covid positive cases in the city.
So far, 141 children between 0-5 years of age have been infected. Of them, 85 have recovered. The state figures also showed around 7,000 patients between the ages of 0-14, which is about 8 per cent of the total cases in the state.
Officials of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said there were very few cases of children getting the virus because of a strict lockdown that focused on children and the elderly.
“From Day One of the lockdown in March, we brought out circulars saying the elderly and the children shouldn’t expose themselves to the virus. They should, as far as possible, stay indoors. When people were seen moving about with children, they were asked to return by police and enforcement teams,” said a BMC officer.
The few children who have been affected are those who contracted the virus from their parents and near and dear ones, or asymptomatic positive persons. In some homes, isolation of patients was inadequate, leading to spread of infection among children.
Manoj Sahu, a noted city-based doctor, said 95 per cent of children affected won’t show symptoms as their ACE2 receptor level is low. “The ACE2 receptor allows the virus to enter and reside in the body. The few children who have been detected with Covid were tested on the basis of suspicion. There may be some more who are asymptomatic now, and as a result haven’t been tested. However, the government’s policy of not allowing children below 10 to come out during the pandemic helped reduce infection in kids,” he explained to TOI.
Data up to August 9 revealed that youths between the ages of 19-45 constituted 57 per cent of the total cases in the city. The city is yet to report any death of patients in this age group.
Experts, however, said the city may report some more cases of Covid in children as the restrictions on people’s movement have almost all been lifted.