Children can be spreaders or super-spreaders of COVID-19, said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on Tuesday.
“Children were thought to be protected against COVID-19, however, there is some evidence that suggests children can be spreaders or super-spreaders of the virus,” he stated.
Addressing a media query in the context of children in Mizoram, the doctor referred to Kawasaki disease that has been happening among children simultaneously with COVID-19 in other parts of world.
Speaking on the coronavirus infection spread in the country among children, Bhargava said overall the figure in India is that below the age of 17 years, only 8 per cent are COVID-19 positive.
“This has been seen in Mizoram, where the number of active COVID cases is small. Children (under 17-years) form only a very small portion (8%) of the total active cases across India,” said.
Below five years, the figure would probably be less than a per cent but then we can come back with a figure for this, he said. In response to a question over surge in cases among children in Mizoram, there are 315 active coronavirus cases in the state as on date.
With 43,893 new cases, infections in India are now close to 8 million. As many as 508 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,20,010. Of the 79,90,322 cases, 6,10,803 are active infections, while 72,59,509 patients have been discharged.
Meanwhile, Mizoram, the only state which had not reported any COVID-19 fatality so far, registered its first coronavirus death on Wednesday as a 62-year-old man succumbed to the infection at a hospital near Aizawl, a health official said.