Her wave Omigron variant Omicron has led to higher child care rates in countries with greater exposure to the variant, thus further increasing the pressure on health systems.
Data from Europe and the United States show more child imports than other epidemic waves in recent days.
Of course, experts insist that most children have a mild illness and that serious cases as a result are rare.
According to the Financial Times, enrollment of children in France is almost six times higher than before August 2021, while the incidence of children under the age of 5 in the UK is three times higher than last winter.
In particular, about 80 children under the age of 5 have been admitted daily to a hospital in the UK since 24 were admitted last summer.
Eighty children under the age of 5 are admitted daily to a hospital in the UK
In the United States, hospital admissions for children under the age of 5 are estimated at four per 100,000 population, up from 2.5 per 100,000 in December.
According to Alastair Monroe, a pediatrician at the National Institutes of Health (NIHR), Kovit-19 is now a relatively common respiratory infection in children.
“Before Omigran, children infected with the corona virus had severe respiratory distress and pneumonia. The difference is that Omigran” infects “children very easily, although cases come with milder symptoms, which subside after a day, with the main symptoms being cough and bronchitis.
In France, 73-80% of children under the age of 18 treated with Covit-19 now have the Omigran variant, according to the Santo Public France.
Experts’ concern about the first Omigron fingerprints in children
At the same time, experts are waiting to see if this variant increases the risk of multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children, which is a rare but dangerous complication that can occur in children who are severely ill with Covit-19.
According to scientific data, it can take three to four weeks for children to develop PIMS, so it is still too late to estimate whether the Omicron variant will lead to an increase in such cases.
“In a few weeks we will find many more and review their data with our pediatric colleagues in the UK,” said pediatrician Cross-Le Queen.
At the same time, the French vaccination campaign for children between the ages of 5 and 11 began at a slow pace. Only 3% of children are vaccinated due to the lack of child-acceptable vaccination centers.
In Britain, child enrollment is higher than that of teenagers
In the UK, on the other hand, 2,000 to 3,000 children were infected with the corona virus in January.
“The ICUs will not be overcrowded at this time of year, and we will talk about peaks during the normal winter with children infected with other viruses,” said Mark Peters, professor of pediatric intensive care at Great Armond Street Hospital and University. College.
Camila Kington, president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, noted that only a few teenagers are admitted, and that – unlike young children – the UK government has not yet approved a vaccination program for more than half of adolescents. Vaccinated between 12 and 15 years of age.
Professor Kevin Monroe warned that even Omigron could cause significant complications in children with other underlying diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a sharp increase in childcare in the United States, Georgia, Connecticut, Tennessee, California and Oregon.
The corona virus has “replaced” other seasonal diseases
At the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital in Pennsylvania, the number of children being treated for the corona virus during the peak of the Omigron variant increased by 70-80%, which doctors now say is declining.
“The disease spectrum is reminiscent of other seasonal illnesses that we usually worry about – such as asthma and bronchitis.”
However, some children will be admitted to the intensive care unit.
According to the CDC, a quarter of children between the ages of 5 and 11 have received at least one dose of the vaccine in the United States, and half of children between the ages of 12 and 17 have been vaccinated twice.
However, Richard Malley, a senior physician in the pediatric ward at Boston Children’s Hospital, said the Omigran variant is spreading rapidly between unvaccinated and non – vaccinated infants.
