PANAJI: While 6,508 children tested positive for COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic in Goa, the figure stood at 15,863 during the second wave.

Overall, 9 children having comorbidities have died of the disease thus far, revealed data collected by the directorate of health services.

The youngest victim during the first wave was an 8-month-old baby girl who had glycogen storage disease type-III. The first wave of the pandemic saw five deaths, three being in the one to three years age group. During the second wave, four children succumbed to the virus, all aged above 10 years.

The first casualty among children due to COVID was a 12-year-old boy in September last year who suffered from leukemia. During the first phase of the pandemic, the mortality rate among children was 0.076 %, while during the second wave, it stood at 0.0252%.

Additionally, the number of children below 5 years of age affected by COVID-19 in the first wave was lesser than the number during the second wave. The same was true for those between 16 and 18 years of age, with around 1,452 contracting the infection during the first wave and the numbers doubling during the second wave. The number of children requiring hospital admission during both waves was negligible.

As of Friday, Goa registered 1,76,515 COVID cases, which included 84 new infections recorded during the day.

As the experts suggest that the anticipated third wave may affect a larger section of the pediatric population, pediatricians both from private and government hospitals, and other staff, have been trained. Beds have also been made available at Goa Medical College’s super-speciality block that served as a COVID hospital.

Source: ET Healthworld