Drop in Covid cases among city children over the past 2 months: health authorities

From March to September 8, municipal health authorities recorded 2.93 lakh cases of Covid, of which 10% were children under the age of 18. At least 29,056 children under the age of 18 have been identified as Covid-19 patients, 25 of whom have succumbed to the infection.

In the first wave of Covid last year, 11.15% of the 2.04 lakh Covid cases in the city of Pune were children under the age of 18, or 22,792 children of whom 31 died from complications related to the infection.

Of the total of 19.44 lakh Covid cases reported in the first wave across the state, 67,110 were children under the age of 10 and 1.29 lakh were in the 11-20 age group. State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said 45.62 lakh people had been infected with Covid-19 in Maharashtra until September 12 this year. Of these, 1.40 lakh cases were children under 10 years old, while 3.53 lakh were in the 11-20 age group.

A daily drop in new cases has also led to a drop in the number of Covid infections in children, health officials said. Dr Sanjeev Wavare, deputy chief of health for the Pune Municipal Corporation, said there had been a drop in daily new cases of Covid in the city with only 190 to 200 cases reported daily.

Dr Aarti Kinikar, head of the Pune Covid-19 pediatric task force and head of the pediatrics department at BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital, said there were at least two children who were cases of Covid in hospital and that they are stable. Their parents got the infection and were admitted, Kinikar added.

Dr Jitendra Oswal, Deputy Medical Director of Bharati Hospital, said: “We had the maximum number of cases in April-May, but that number has definitely decreased.” Last month there was only one child with Covid-19. With lower community spread and a percentage of adult positivity, there will be fewer Covid infections in children, Oswal said. Also in the hospital, swabs from children with respiratory symptoms are not positive for Covid.

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Increase in RSV cases in children

However, the increase in the number of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus that typically causes mild and common cold-like symptoms, is cause for concern.

The pediatric OPD at Sassoon General Hospital has observed an increase in the number of children with RSV, followed by infections with the Influenza H3N2 and H1N1 viruses.

Children have respiratory symptoms similar to Covid-19 and therefore RT-PCR tests are performed. “In our OPD, 90% of the children have RSV and they need supportive treatment,” Kinikar said, adding that there were almost 10-20 respiratory cases at the hospital pediatric OPD. by Sassoon.

Dr Umesh Vaidya, senior pediatrician at Cloudnine Hospital, said no children had been hospitalized in the past three months at their facility.

“Instead, we are dealing with many cases of RSV,” Vaidya said. Dr Pramod Jog, former president of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, said Covid-19 is a priority and swabs from children with respiratory symptoms are also being sent to the National Institute of Virology. Most reports are positive for RSV followed by influenza virus, Jog said.