Odisha: 0-18 age group account for 12% of cases in last 2 days

Bhubaneswar: People in the 0-18 age group have accounted for 12% of the daily Covid infections in the state in the last two days. This was revealed in the segregated data of the particular age group shared by the government on its Covid dashboard.
Of the 1,058 cases reported on Sunday, 138 were among people below 18 years of age. Of the 868 cases recorded on Monday, 104 were among the below 18 age group.
Ajay Parida, director, Institute of Life Scinces (ILS) said, “Since the 0-18 age group people are not vaccinated, it is natural for them to be more susceptible to the infection than others. The second wave has stretched a bit longer and those under 18 years are contracting the virus from their parents and others, who step out of home. But the government has kept the infrastructure ready to meet any crisis situation. We have also got a promising result of the trial vaccinations of the below 18 age group. So, lets hope they get the jabs soon.”
He added that there should be further segregation of the data presentation such as 0-12 and 12-18 age group for more clarity.
Experts further said children are likely to be more infected now also because of the easing or lifting of restrictions. “’The working members of the family, who go out and return home carry the virus with them. The children get infected in the process. We have had cases of three-month-old infants getting Covid and landing in hospital in serious condition. But they are recovering faster. Now protecting them from exposure is very important,” Dr Janaki Ballav Pradhan, senior doctor, paediatric critical care and neonatologist at AMRI Hospital here, said.
Out of the 868 new cases on Monday, Khurda reported the bulk of infections(256). The state registered a 1.39% test positivity rate. The government confirmed 66 more Covid deaths taking the total fatalities to 6953. With the capital city reporting 211 new cases on Monday, the active cases breached the 3,000 mark (3098).
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