More Children In Bengaluru Test Covid Positive, Raises Alarm, BBMP Says Don’t Worry

The growing number of Covid-19 cases among children in Bengaluru has raised the alarm among citizens with nearly 500 kids testing positive in the first two weeks of August.

The growing number of Covid-19 cases among children in Bengaluru has raised an alarm with nearly 500 kids testing positive in the first two weeks of August. This comes at a time when the Karnataka government is planning to reopen schools for students from Classes 9-12 in August.

According to data from the BBMP, about 88 children in the 0-9 year age group, and 305 children in the 10-19 year age group have tested positive for Covid-19. Among the 499 new cases, 263 were reported in past five days and out of these, 88 are aged below 9 years while 175 are between 10 and 19 years old.

BBMP, special commissioner of Health, Randeep D, said that going by the absolute numbers, it may seem that the cases are increasing, but the cases have not gone to an alarming level.

Also read: Health Ministry Rings Covid Resurgence Alarm

“We have looked at the statistics and the numbers from the last week of July and first week of August, and it is very clear that the percentage of infected cases, if we look at the 0-19 bracket is well under 14%. We have not seen large variations,” the BBMP official said.

He also added that the BBMP has cross-checked with hospitals if any hospital admissions of children with severe symptoms have taken place, but it was found that most were largely asymptomatic or mildly asymptomatic and could be treated at home. No paediatric deaths have taken place in the last 10 days, he said.

“When we tested more in the clusters, we realised that parents who are positive have spread Covid-19 to the children or it could be vice-versa where children go out and they come back and infect the parents. So, when we are testing more in clusters, we tend to detect more children who are infected, and they are largely asymptomatic,” the commissioner said.