Srinagar: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday said that the first European multinational, multicentre cohort study in children and adolescents has shown that Covid-19 is predominantly a mild disease in children and adolescents.
President DAK, Dr Suhail Naik said a study published in ‘The Lancet Child Adol’ on June 25 included 582 individuals aged less than 18 years with PCR-confirmed Covid-19 infection.
“The study has revealed that 65% of children were having fever, 54% upper respiratory symptoms, 25% lower respiratory symptoms, 22% gastrointestinal symptoms and 16 % were asymptomatic,” he said.
Quoting the study Dr Naik said, among them 363 (62%) kids were admitted to different hospitals and 145 (25 % ) were having pre-existing medical conditions like chronic lung, heart or kidney disease, malignancy and immune deficiency.
“Among 582 kids only 48 (8%) required ICU admission, 25 (4%) were put on ventilator and four children died (case-fatality rate 0·69%). The pre-existing medical conditions and age less than 1 year were major risk factors to land kids in ICU.”
Dr Naik, a senior paediatrician, said the study confirms previous reports from China suggesting that the case-fatality rate of coronavirus in children is substantially lower than adult patients.
However, he said some children do develop severe disease and may require prolonged intensive care support.
The DAK appealed to people who have recovered from Covid-19 infection to come forward and donate their plasma.
“Donation from a single person can save two lives and saving a single human life is saving whole humanity,” it said.
The doctor’s body said it is high time to motivate people to donate plasma, and it is not going to affect them anyway and will help to save two lives.
“Plasma donations have no side effects except pain of needle prick. The plasma is a liquid part of blood rich in antibodies. When injected to a patient suffering from moderate to severe Covid can kill the virus directly and reverse fatal outcome,” DAK said.
It also said that the government should launch a massive campaign to educate and aware people both for preventive measures and plasma donations.

KR Desk