Los Angeles, July 13: Nearly 68,000 child Covid-19 cases were reported across the United States in the week ending July 7, according to a report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.
Over 13.8 million children had tested positive for Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic in the country, and nearly 295,000 of these cases had been added in the past four weeks, according to the report. Over 5.9 million child Covid-19 cases had been added in 2022, said the report.
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Since the pandemic began, children represented 18.7 per cent of total cumulated cases in the United States, according to the report. There is an urgent need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the AAP.
"It is important to recognise there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children's health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth," it said.
Meanwhile, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday warned the world that fresh waves of Covid-19 cases show that the pandemic is "nowhere near over."
In a media briefing on Covid-19, the WHO chief said, "I am concerned that cases of Covid-19 continue to rise, putting further pressure on stretched health systems and health workers - and deaths are unacceptably high."
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He urged governments to regularly review and adjust their response plans based on the current epidemiology and also the potential for new variants to appear. The Emergency Committee on Covid-19 met last week and concluded that the virus remains a public health emergency of international concern.
-PTC News
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Since the pandemic began, children represented 18.7 per cent of total cumulated cases in the United States, according to the report. There is an urgent need to collect more age-specific data to assess the severity of illness related to new variants as well as potential longer-term effects, said the AAP.
"It is important to recognise there are immediate effects of the pandemic on children's health, but importantly we need to identify and address the long-lasting impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of this generation of children and youth," it said.
Meanwhile, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday warned the world that fresh waves of Covid-19 cases show that the pandemic is "nowhere near over."
In a media briefing on Covid-19, the WHO chief said, "I am concerned that cases of Covid-19 continue to rise, putting further pressure on stretched health systems and health workers - and deaths are unacceptably high."
Also Read | Petition filed in HC challenging Raghav Chadha's appointment as advisory panel chief
He urged governments to regularly review and adjust their response plans based on the current epidemiology and also the potential for new variants to appear. The Emergency Committee on Covid-19 met last week and concluded that the virus remains a public health emergency of international concern.
