Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday said more than 17 percent of COVID19 cases in Kashmir were children.
“We have higher percentage of children having COVID infection than the global average,” said DAK President, Dr Nisar ul Hassan. “While children make up fewer than two percent of reported COVID19 cases globally, in Kashmir, 17.29 percent of the cases are in the age group of 0-19.”
Dr Hassan said based on the “analysis from the data of 989 lab confirmed cases of the coronavirus, 171 cases (17.29 percent) were under 19 years of age.”
“Majority of the children who tested positive for the virus had history of contact with adults and but had no symptoms or had mild disease,” he said.
Dr Hassan said no infected child became seriously ill. “However, today we had the first infant death in the Valley due to COVID19,” he said, adding “research shows that children are less susceptible to the virus than adults.”
He said studies on whether children were also less likely to spread the infection to others have shown mixed results.
“In view of mixed results, we should wait for more research results before re-opening schools and easing social distancing for children,” Dr Hassan said.