Assam has a 96.67 percent approval rating. In the second wave, there was a significant increase in the number of people under the age of 18 years old.

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Tuesday, 29th June 2021

Even while the total number of cases in Assam increased by only 27.31 percent from the first to the second wave of the pandemic, the state saw an alarming 96.67 percent increase in COVID-19 infection among children and teens under the age of 18.

The state has also seen a threefold increase in mortality among those under the age of 18, with 55 percent of those under the age of 18 being toddlers (ages 0 to 5).

The figures provide an unsettling message at a time when the Delta Plus variation, which has already been identified in the country and is expected to be the cause of a probable third wave, may infect youngsters more than the Delta version discovered in the second wave, according to researchers.

Assam Health Minister Keshab Mahanta had previously stated that 77 percent of the samples supplied for analysis between April and May contained the Delta strain.

According to the National Health Mission (NHM) in Assam, the number of coronavirus-infected children aged 0 to 18 years was 17,457 in the first wave and has since climbed to 34,333.

In the first wave (from March 31, 2020, when the first case was reported, to March 2021), there were 3,014 toddlers and 14,443 minors and teenagers aged 6 to 18. In the ongoing second wave, there are presently 5,778 toddlers and 28,555 minors and teenagers aged 6 to 18. (April 1 to the available data on June 25). This translates to a 91.70 percent increase in child infection and a 97.71 percent increase in infection among individuals aged 6 to 18.

The increase in child deaths was even more concerning. While the first wave claimed the lives of only three toddlers, the second wave claimed the lives of 19, a sixfold increase. The number of deaths among those aged 6 to 18 increased from six in the first wave to fifteen in the second, a twofold increase.

Kamrup Metro leads the way with 5,346 instances among children under the age of 18, followed by Dibrugarh with 2,430 cases, Nagaon with 2,288, Kamrup Rural with 2,023, and Sontipur with 1,839 cases.

"From 1 April to 26th June, 2021, the State has reported 34 deaths among the aforesaid group, many of them having comorbidities such Congenital Diseases (heart, kidney, unusual deformities, etc), mainly among children younger than 5 years," the NHM said in a news release on Monday.

Also read: India surpasses the United States in vaccine doses administered, despite a rise in new Covid cases.

NHM explained that the cases of children receiving the highly transmissible sickness from their parents or other family members at home isolations are particularly prevalent in the second wave.

With schools and colleges closed as a result of the Covid-imposed limitations, the prospects of transmission via other channels are slim.

In the second wave of COVID-19, Assam registered 27,8069 new cases, which is 59,657 more than the previous phase's 2,18, 412 cases.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source

NDTV