Coimbatore: Covid-19 tally crossed the 39,000-mark in the district on Friday, when it recorded 387 fresh cases, even as a record high of 913 patients were discharged from treatment centres.
The Covid-19 count now stands at 39,102, of which 3,902 are active cases. At least 34,688 patients have recovered from the infection in the district, where the recovery rate has touched an all-time high of 88.7%.
The toll, meanwhile, went up by one to 512. The deceased was a 67-year-old diabetic man, who was admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital on Monday. He died of severe pneumonia that was caused by the infection and acute respiratory distress syndrome on Wednesday afternoon.
As per the data available with the health department, 1,240 children aged below 12 have contracted the virus in the district until Thursday. At least 477 of them were aged below five. All of them have recovered from the infection.
Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, said, “Covid-19 has been relatively mild in children, who mostly get away with just mild cold or fever for a day. In some cases, they are asymptomatic.”
The health department said the virus hadn’t affected the children severely across the world so far. However, what most parents do not know is that in rare cases, children, who recover from Covid-19, develop a pediatric multisystem inflammation syndrome (PMIS). It occurs within two to three weeks of recovery. It is a condition, where some organs and tissues such as the heart, lungs, blood vessels, digestive system, brain or skin get severely inflamed.
Dr D Ashwath, paediatrician, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, said, “When it affects their heart, they come with cardiogenic shock. They will also have symptoms of pseudo Kawasaki disease, red eyes, severe vomiting or diarrhoea depending on the organ involved.” He said they had seen seven children with this condition.
Two hospitals in the district alone have seen 37 children with PMIS. Dr A Jayavardhana, paediatrician, PSG Hospitals, said, “We handed 30 children and they came with fever, seizures if the brain was involved, or vomiting with severe abdomen pain, if their gut was involved. In fact, only a blood test could reveal the antibodies for Covid-19. They were completely asymptomatic and parents didn’t know they were infected. If we find antibodies, we have a standard treatment based on the organ/multiple organs involved.”
Doctors say parents of Covid-19 infected children should not ignore a lasting fever, severe abdomen pain, vomiting or diarrhoea that occurs two to three weeks after recovery, even if they were asymptomatic.
“We haven’t lost any children to the syndrome, but we recommend bringing in children as early as possible because it takes time to diagnose. We don’t know what level of viral load triggers this, or what age group is most affected, or if they have a marker making them prone to it. There is no data as of now on how many children have this syndrome,” Dr Ashwath said. The peak incidence of PMIS in the community is about a month after the peak in adult cases.